Opposites Attract
by jadedcutie494
Summary: What if Tristan Dugray was Lucas Scott's cousin, and he came to spend the summer? What if Rory followed him to North Carolina? Set after the second season of both shows, this is an AU crossover of OTH and GG. Summary sucks, but hopefully the story doesn't
1. Chapter 1: Just You and Me

Disclaimer: Don't own either, One Tree Hill or Gilmore Girls

A/N: Ok, so this story is a crossover between OTH and GG. It's more OTH, but different characters from GG will make appearances. Basically, we're in Tree Hill, and it's after Season 2 of both OTH and GG (let's pretend that they happened at the same time). Anyway, Tristan and Lucas are cousins in this story, I'll explain the connection later in the story, so bear with me. Anyway, enough of me rambling, happy reading...

Chapter 1: Just You and Me

'Looks like it's just you and me this summer,' Peyton finally turned to look at the boy sitting beside her, and she nodded sadly, then reached out and hugged him. He held her for what seemed like hours, but in reality was only a few short minutes, before she shivered from the cold. He pulled back and looked down at her.

'Peyt, what's wrong?' She pulled away from him slightly, and hung her head; Lucas recognised the move immediately, it was a classic Peyton Sawyer evasive move. 'Come on, let's get you home.' He was surprised when she shook her head, and even more surprised by her words.

'No... I can't be there alone.' She looked up at him, and despite his attempts to look away, he couldn't. 'Will you stay with me?' she asked after a minute of silence.

He wanted to say that wouldn't be a good idea, but he saw the fear in her eyes, so he nodded, and stood, helping her up.

'Alright, let's just stop off at my place first, ok? I gotta talk to my mum, and I'll grab some clothes, I can spend the night.' The smile she gave him tugged on his heart, and not for the first time, he wondered if he'd made a mistake earlier, with Brooke. But he pushed those thoughts out of his head; he'd been down that road before, and it only ended hurting everyone involved. They headed off the beach, and he drove them back to his place in her car.

They pulled up to his house, and they walked up to the side door. He was confused when he hear talking coming from the other side of door.

'Who's your mum with?' Peyton asked, and he shrugged.

'Dunno. Guess we'll find out.' He opened the door, and they walked into the kitchen, and Peyton was shocked to see Karen laughing with a boy their age, who looked almost identical to Lucas. Peyton stood in the doorway, watching as Karen and the boy looked up at them, and saw the grin on the boy's face, and watched as he stood.

'Tristan!' Lucas exclaimed, and made his way towards the other boy, and they embraced quickly, patting each other's backs.

'Lucas, how are you?' Tristan asked.

'I'm good, how are you? I heard about Military School, what was that about?' Tristan laughed, and shook his head.

'That is a long story man.'

'Ok, let's start with what you're doing here then.'

'That's relatively easy. Since the military school is here in North Carolina, and my parents aren't all that happy with me still, I asked if I could come spend the summer with my favourite cousin.' He ended with a quick grin, and once again Peyton saw the resemblance between the two. It was actually scary.

'So you're staying here for the summer? This summer just got interesting.' Peyton hit his arm, and glared at him playfully.

'Hey, are you saying a summer with me wasn't going to be interesting?' she demanded, and Lucas laughed.

'Never, of course. But now there's three, and Tristan can usually make the most boring things interesting, unless of course you've lost your touch in Military School?' He asked, and got a raised eyebrow in response.

'Lost my touch? Not likely.'

'Oh, Lucas, that reminds me, Deb called earlier. Dan was in an accident, there was a fire at the dealership, but he's in recovery. And she told me that Nathan's not going to High Flyers anymore, oh and Haley's back.' Three people watched Lucas' face light up at the last piece of news, his eyes widened and his lips spread into a smile.

'Seriously? She's back? For good?'

'Haley James?' Lucas nodded, and Tristan looked confused. 'Where'd she go?'

'She was on tour with The Wreckers,' Peyton explained, 'it broke Nathan's heart, but she's back now. Actually, this summer really did just get interesting.'

'Who's Nathan and why'd she break his heart? And on tour? Are we talking about the same little bookworm Haley?'

'Yeah, one and the same. And Nathan Scott, my brother, also known as Haley's wife.' Now Peyton watched as Tristan's eyes bugged out.

'Haley's MARRIED?' he asked, clearly shocked.

'Yep, going on 4 months I think.'

'And to your brother – the one who treats you like shit?' he asked, trying to keep up.

'Yep, although he stopped treating me like that before the wedding. Although, it's a different story now...he's not all that pleased with me.'

'What?' now Peyton was the one who was confused. 'When did this happen?' she demanded.

'Uh, today. He found out I went to see Haley, and on top of the Dan stuff... well, he didn't take it too well. I'm just hoping that now Haley's back, he'll forgive me. I don't particularly want to go back to how it was.'

'Yeah, that pretty much sucked for you, right?' Peyton asked cheekily, and he stuck his tongue out, but before she could retort, the doorbell rang, and four heads turned towards it.

'Mum, are you expecting any other late night visitors?' Lucas asked and Karen shrugged. 'I'll get it,' he said, and he moved out of the kitchen towards the door.

He opened the door, and was met by a small brunette, whose bright blue eyes had been looking around her, until they snapped up to meet his, and then suddenly, she launched herself into his arms, and he stumbled from the force, his arms coming around her instinctively to keep her steady, and was confused until he heard her say 'Tristan!' Obviously, she thought he was his cousin, and he was about to point this fact out to her, when the others came into the room, and they heard Tristan's voice.

'Mary?'

A/N: Ok, there you go. So, should I keep going? Let me know!!


	2. Chapter 2: Things Just Got Interesting

Disclaimer: I don't own either show... I wish... mmmm Chad

A/N: yay!! Here's the next chapter!! Well, I hope it's a yay. There's a fair bit of information in this chapter, a lot of background, but I need a lot of this out in the open so the story can progress, so please bear with me. I tried to make it interesting, but I'll stop yapping now and let you decide for yourselves...

Chapter 2: Things Just Got Interesting

'Mary?'

The mystery girl, _Mary_, lifted her head off Lucas' chest, and looked at him, then behind him, before pulling away, confused. 'What? Tristan?' The second word was directed at Tristan, and he nodded, still in awe of the fact that Rory, his Mary, was standing in front of him. Granted, she was hugging his cousin, but still, she was _here_.

'Mary, what are you doing to Lucas?' He asked, smirking, and she gasped.

'Oh my god, I'm SO sorry, I thought...you look like...god, you must think I'm a nut case. Some random shows up at your house and jumps into your arms...god, I'm a nut case who hugs strangers!' she muttered to herself, looking down, until she heard laughing, and looked up to see four people laughing at her; Tristan, Lucas, a blonde girl and an older women.

'Still the same old Mary, I see. This is Lucas, my cousin, this is Karen, his mum, and this is... huh, do I actually know your name?' He asked Peyton, who thought for a second, and shook her head.

'No, I don't think you do. Peyton Sawyer,' she told them both, and smiled.

'Hi, I'm Rory...well, Lorelai, really. Lorelai Gilmore, but Rory for short. That's cause my mum's name is Lorelai, she named me after herself, cause she was lying in the hospital, thinking about how guys name their sons after themselves all the time, so why couldn't she...and I think a lot of Demerol went into that decision, but you know.' She noticed that once again, all four sets of eyes were on her, and she blushed.

'Uh, if you're name's Rory, why's my cousin calling you Mary? Or do I really not wanna know?' Lucas broke the silence, and Tristan started laughing.

'It's an old joke, it started on her first day at Chilton. I thought she looked innocent, pure, hence...'

'Mary. Yeah, I remember my mother thought it was very clever of you. Biblical nicknames.' Rory said, and the others couldn't help but laugh.

'So, not that I'm not happy to see you, but what are you doing here Mary?' Tristan asked, and once again Rory blushed.

'Um... well, I dunno, I guess, I was thinking about the summer, and how I really didn't wanna spend 8 weeks in Washington with Paris, and then I was trying to imagine what next year's gonna be like with her in charge, and then I was thinking about that assignment we had, you know, 

create your own government, and how she made herself Prime Minister or something, and she tried to make us King and Queen, and then I was thinking how I hadn't seen you since Romeo and Juliet, and I was wondering what you were doing and then... I was talking to Jess, and he mentioned that he was coming to see his mother on her Renaissance Fair tour, here in North Carolina, and hanging out in Stars Hollow and seeing Dean everyday didn't seem like fun, so I kinda asked if I could come, and then the nice man at your school said you were spending your summer with relatives here, and the Fair's only a couple of towns away, so...'

Tristan was standing there, absolutely confused, as were the others. While the others were trying to keep up with her and take it all in, he couldn't stop looking at Rory, and trying to process the fact that Rory had come to see him, after almost a year of no contact, and that she and Dean were apparently no longer together. Then his famous smirk settled in to place.

'So you came by to see me? Without calling first?' They watched the blush cover her face as she ducked her head.

'Hey, don't think you're so special. A month ago, I cut school and went to New York to see Jess.'

'My Mary cut school? And what was Jess doing in New York?' He watched as Rory grinned at the memory.

'I was tutoring Jess one night, and he wanted ice cream, so we went to get some, and he was driving cause I was reading and...'

'Hang on, you were probably in the diner right? Do they not have ice cream there?' Tristan asked, confused.

'Cause it had to be in _cones_.' Rory said, as if stating the obvious.

'Right, sorry, my mistake. Continue.'

'Anyway, we were on our way back, and basically, a small creature ran out in front of us, and he swerved, and we hit a bench, and I fractured my wrist, and then he left.'

'Who's car?'

'Mine. The one Dean made me.' Tristan let out a laugh at that.

'I'll bet Farmer John loved that. You let Jess drive the car _he_ made you, and then he crashed it. I'm actually not sure which one of us he hated more.'

'I dunno, it would've been pretty close, but Jess wasn't there that long before you left, so he didn't have enough time to hate him that much when you left.'

'True.' At this point, Karen stepped in.

'I think I speak for the three of us when I same I'm extremely confused. Now, Rory, this might seem like a stupid question, but where were you planning on staying?'

'Oh... uh, huh. I didn't really think that far ahead, I guess. I was kinda focusing on actually _finding_ Tristan. Oh god, and I can't stay with Jess now, cause...'

'Actually ma, I was gonna stay at Peyton's tonight,' Lucas didn't miss the way his cousin's and mother's eyebrows went up at that comment, and he quickly added, 'cause she doesn't wanna be alone, so why don't Tristan and Rory come with us. I can even call Hales later, the way Nathan was earlier, I'm not sure she'll have anywhere to go. And you can have the house to yourself.' Karen thought it over, then nodded.

'Sure, why not. Just keep an eye on your cousin, Lucas.' Tristan mocked outrage, but laughed when Karen whispered in his ear, 'and you keep an eye on my son.'

'So, party at my house?' Peyton said, and Lucas grinned.

'Movies?'

'Movies.'

'Oh!! Oompa Loompas!' Four eyes turned to Rory, who blushed once again, and Tristan laughed.

'Some things never change, I see.'

'Ok, so if we're doing a movie night, we have to do it right. Popcorn, drinks, lollies, _movies_, and we'll need to set up beds down here.' Peyton said as they walked through the front door of her house.

'Ok, you and Rory do the beds, Tristan and I'll go get the food and movies, we'll be back in 20 minutes.' Lucas said, and looked at Peyton, who grimaced and threw him her car keys.

'Take it easy ok.'

'Peyton, I know how to drive the car, and I'm also _well_ aware of what you'll do to me if I so much as scratch it, ok?' She continued to look pointedly at him, and he sighed. 'Fine I'll say it. I swear on my jersey that I won't scratch your baby.' She smiled at him, then turned away, motioning for Rory to follow her up the stairs. 'Come on Tristan.'

They'd been in the supermarket less than three minutes when Tristan asked the question he'd been wanting to ask since his cousin came through the door with Peyton behind him.

'Ok man spill, what's the story with Peyton?' Lucas didn't bother looking at him as he picked a bag of MnMs off the shelf, and threw it into their basket.

'What story? We're friends.' Was all he said, and he looked back to see Tristan staring at him, one eyebrow raised in disbelief.

'Dude, if I looked at any of my friends like that... well, since most of them are guys, I probably wouldn't have any friends left,' Tristan finished with a laugh. 'But seriously, that look, you can't seriously be telling me you're just friends.'

'We are...' Lucas said, but Tristan picked up on the hesitation in his voice.

'Come on man, spill.' Lucas sighed, admitting defeat as they made their way towards checkout.

'Where to start...'

20 minutes later, they were standing in the video shop, and Lucas had managed to tell his cousin every detail of his relationship with Peyton, and Brooke, and he was now staring at him in shock.

'So you told Brooke you wanted to be with her tonight?' Tristan clarified.

'Yep.'

'But now you're not sure if you made the right choice.'

'Right.'

'And you need to decide now, so you don't do the same thing all over again.'

'You got it.'

'Well, you screwed up worse than I did.' Lucas looked at him, confused.

'How so?'

'Well, you had the girl, and you let her get away. Twice. At least I never had her.'

'Alright, that's enough about me, let's hear about your story. Tell me about Rory.'

'God, that's a painful memory. I was the world's biggest moron...behind you, that is.'

'Haha, you're hilarious,' Lucas deadpanned.

'Anyway, I met Rory at the start of Sophomore year at Chilton. I like her the first time I saw her, and I called her Mary...'

'Ok, so tell me. You and Lucas, together?' Rory asked as the two girls arranged blankets and pillows on the floor of Peyton's living room, and Peyton's head snapped up, shock and fear written on her face. They'd been talking about music for the past 15 minutes, (Rory had actually squealed when she walked in to Peyton's closet and seen all the records, her exact words being 'OH MY GOD! LANE WOULD WANT TO LIVE IN HERE!), and so Peyton was trying to figure out where the question had come from. She saw Rory looking at her, waiting for an answer and shook her head, answering quickly.

'No! We're just friends.'

'Uh huh...I'm sensing a story here, am I right?'

'Maybe, but I think it's a story for another night. Since you're the town-crasher, I think it's only fair that I get to question you first. So, what's up with you and Tristan?' Once again, the third or fourth time that night, Rory blushed and ducked her head.

'Uh, that's a really long story.'

'Well, I'm not going anywhere.' Peyton told her, and Rory sighed in defeat.

'Uh, well, I met him two years ago almost, start of Sophomore year, when I started at Chilton. He started calling me Mary on my first day,' she saw Peyton's confused look, and elaborated, 'It meant he thought I looked innocent, you know, Virgin Mary.' Peyton laughed, and asked the same question Rory had that day.

'What if they thought you were a slut?'

'There would've been a Magdalene in front of it, according to my mother. She was very impressed about the biblical insults, thought it proved how good a school it was.'

'I like the sound of your mother, I have to meet her.'

'Well, you never know, depending on how long I stay here, she's more than likely to put in an appearance. And I know she'd love your music collection. Anyway, so yeah, what with the name and his attitude, we didn't exactly get off to a good start. I pretty much despised him, and after an incident at our Winter Ball with him and my boyfriend Dean, I didn't want to talk to him. Then, on mine and Dean's third month anniversary, we went out for dinner, and Dean said I love you, and I froze, and he got angry, and we broke up. I was determined not to wallow, so I went to the Chilton party the next night, with my friend Lane. And Tristan was there, and his girlfriend, Summer, was being this total bitch and ignoring him, and then she broke up with him in front of everyone one. Anyway, cause Lane met this guy, I was kinda bored, so I was looking for a quiet place to read, and I found Tristan in this room, playing around on a piano. He looked all depressed, so I started talking, and he didn't wanna talk about Summer, so I remember talking about a Biology quiz we had, and he was so confused. And then, we were talking, and he asked about Dean, and I said we'd broken up, and he said he was sorry, and somewhere along the way I'd ended up sitting next to him on the piano stool, bench... thing, and anyway, then he kissed me.'

'Seriously? When you'd just broken up with your boyfriend, and he'd just been dumped in front of your entire class?'

'Yep, but you know what? That wasn't the really bad timing.'

'What?'

'Yeah, he kissed me, and do you know what I did? I start crying!' Peyton looked at her for a second before she burst into laughter.

'Seriously? You cried? He kissed you and you cried?'

'She cried?'

'Yep.'

'Ouch.'

'Shut up.'

'Anyway, so then I was apologising, and saying it wasn't his fault,'

'Yeah, like he was gonna believe that.'

'Anyway, then I went home and wallowed. And a few days, and some awkward moments later, I decided to set Tristan up with Paris, this girl in our class who's been in love with him forever, but is a little intimidating, and not a very good people person. Anyway, that didn't end well, Tristan, idiot that he is, told her he thought they made better friends, and then said he was glad _I'd_ suggested it, well, she didn't talk to me for months. Then I got angry at him, and he said wasn't it better that he's told Paris they should be friends, then pretending with her while he was hung up on someone else, and me, being me, thought he meant Summer, which is what I said, and he agreed with me, and I felt bad for him. And now, in hindsight,'

'You kinda think he meant you?'

'Well, yeah, maybe.'

'Uh, I think more than maybe.'

'Yeah, ok, I was naive, I'd only had one boyfriend. Anyway, then a couple of weeks later, I got back together with Dean, and summer started. When school started again, Tristan was hanging out with these idiots, Duncan and Bowman, and getting suspended all the time. Then he got assigned to our Shakespeare group, Romeo and Juliet, the death scene. Paris, of course, was director and guess who she cast as her leads?'

'You and Tristan?'

'Yep. Anyway, things happened, and we ended up having to rehears in Stars Hollow, the town where I live. Tristan went into the market, where Dean worked, and it wasn't good. So the next rehearsal, Dean came, and it was worse. Tristan was provoking him, Dean was getting mad. Anyway, the night of the performance came, and no Tristan. Paris was freaking out, and we were about to check the boy's toilets, when Tristan came in. Paris yells at him, and he tells us he's been pulled out of school. Paris storms off, and I ask him what happened. Guess what he did?'

'Stole something? I dunno.'

'He broke into Bowman's dad's safe, and they set of the silent alarm. And since the police let their parents handle it, he was shipped off down here to Military School. The last thing he said to me was 'I'd kiss you, but your boyfriend's watching.' Then he left.'

'And until today, you haven't heard from him?'

'Well...'

'I sent her a letter two weeks after I got down here, but she never responded. I figured she either didn't get it, or she didn't care. I'm still kinda hoping it was the first one.'

'Did you write back?'

'No, no one knew I'd even gotten it, except Jess. He met Tristan during the whole Shakespeare thing, when he was in the market making fun of Dean, and Jess caught up with him outside and congratulated him. He and Dean didn't get along either. But Jess and Tristan hit it off, and I can't believe I just said that, but it's true. Or, as much as two guys like them can in about two days. I think they spent most of the time mocking Dean. Anyway, Jess found me reading the letter a few weeks after I got it, and told me I should write back, give him a chance, he wasn't that bad. Anyway, it took me so long to actually write the letter, I had no idea what to say, and then the whole thing with Jess and the car happened, and I forgot about it, until I went to see him, and he asked if I'd ever written it. I told him I had, but I'd never sent it. Anyway, he came back a week later, and I'd gotten the letter out. I was debating whether or not to send it.' She paused, and looked at Peyton, who was enthralled in the story.

'Keep going,' she said, and Rory laughed.

'So that's when Dean arrived, and he caught me looking at the letter, and he got so mad, and then he was yelling, and then I was yelling and crying, and the Jess came in, and he started yelling, and then Dean yelled some more, cause Jess was back, and he was at my house, and then I yelled at him, and told him he didn't decide who I was friends with, and if I wanted to write to Tristan, or have Jess in my house, then I'd do that, and he got so quiet, and said that if I didn't care what he thought, then maybe we should be together. So I said, well if you don't care what I think, then maybe we shouldn't, and then he left. And then Jess smiled and hugged me and said I was 

awesome, and mum came home and we had a movie night.' Rory let out a huge breath and looked at Peyton, neither of them noticed Lucas in the hallway.

He went back down into the hallway, and grinned at his cousin.

'I know why Rory and Dean broke up.' Tristan turned around so fast he almost threw the bottle of Pringles in his hand at Lucas.

'What?'

'I know why Rory and Dean broke up.'

'How? Why? What happened?' Tristan asked the three questions so fast they all blended into one sentence, and Lucas laughed at him.

'I overheard the girls when I went to tell them we were back and... I'm not sharing until you tell me the truth.'

'The truth? About what? I'm sorry, I'm the one who threw your toy basketball in the river when we were 6.'

'Haha, very funny. And I always knew that was you, that was why I told your mum you were the one who broke the lawn mower when we were 8, got you banned from the TV and Nintendo for the rest of the summer.' Lucas grinned at the shocked look on his cousins face.

'I never knew you had it in you to do that, or to hold a grudge for so long.'

'What can I say, I was attached to that basketball. Anyway, I was talking about you telling me the truth about Rory. You've told me everything that happened at Chilton, but you haven't told me _why_, and now, I know why, but I wanna hear you say it.'

'I don't know what you're talking about.' Tristan said, turning away and suddenly becoming very interested in the food. Lucas was about to respond when the doorbell sounded and the phone rang.

'I'll get the phone Peyton,' he called out as he made his way into the hall and picked up her cordless. He made continued down the hall as he answered. 'Sawyer residence.'

'Lucas?'

'Brooke?' Lucas said in surprise, and watched as Peyton opened the door to reveal a weeping Haley. 'Haley?' Peyton watched as he dropped the phone and rushed forward to envelop his best friend in a hug. 'Hales, what happened?'

Peyton picked up the phone as she watched Lucas try and calm Haley down enough to get her to tell him what happened.

'Hello?'

'P. Sawyer, what's going on? Why's Lucas at your house?' Peyton almost rolled her eyes at the question.

'Some creeps been IMing me, so Lucas was gonna stay at my place, then his cousin was at his house, and then a friend of his cousin showed up, so we're all at my place, but look, Haley just turned up and she's really upset, I think something happened with Nathan, I gotta go.' She didn't hear Brooke as she hung up and moved forward and joined the friends in a hug. 'Hales, do you wanna come sit down?'

Haley nodded, and Lucas and Peyton led her to the couch. Lucas sat next to her while Peyton went to get her a drink.

'Hales, tell me what happened, please?' She looked up at him, and he saw the pain clearly in her eyes.

'I went to Nathan's, and... oh god, Lucas, Dan's in the hospital. Someone set fire to the dealership. He's ok, but he's burnt pretty bad. I got there just as Deb got the call, and I went with them to the hospital, cause Deb told me to, but once we were there...Nathan and I got into this horrible fight.

'_Hey, I'm really sorry about your dad, is he ok?' Haley asked as Nathan came back into the waiting room._

'_They think he'll be fine.' He said tersely._

'_Hey, it'll be ok, he's a fighter.' She told him, putting her hand on his shoulder._

'_Yeah,' Nathan said, shrugging her hand off his shoulder. 'Look, Haley, you don't have to be here, you can go.'_

'_Nathan, it's your dad, I wanna be there for you...'_

'_What, like you were the last few months?'_

'_Nathan, that's not...'_

'_Not what, Hales? Not fair? Don't tell me about fair. Fair would've been you talking to me about singing with Chris Keller, or not just picking up and leaving for that tour. Fair would've been me coming to see you and NOT finding you with your ring off. Don't tell me about fair Haley.'_

_By now, Haley had tears streaming down her face, and she couldn't think of anything to say. She tried to reach out and take his hand, but he flinched away, and she lowered her head. Without saying anything, she turned and left the hospital, and for some reason, she made her way to Peyton's house. She knew with Brooke gone for the summer, and Lucas not knowing about her return, that that would be the most likely place to find him._

'I'm so sorry Hales, he didn't mean it, he's just... he's been in a bad place the last couple of months, like I told you. And, he's really angry at me at the moment, all the stuff with Dan, and I didn't tell him I went to see you, and when he found out, he freaked. It's not your fault.' He soothed, trying to calm her.

'Yes it is. I promised to be there always, and I left. He's right, I wasn't fair. God, I'm a horrible wife.'

'That's not a sentence I thought I'd hear out of you Haley James, at least, not before we're seniors.' Haley looked up, and squealed when she saw Tristan in front of her.

'TRISTAN DUGRAY!! Is that you? What are you doing here?' She jumped off the couch, and Lucas threw a grateful smile at his cousin, glad to see her looking happy, even if it was temporary.

'I'm here for the summer,' Haley pulled back from the hug and looked at him, 'I kid you not. For the next three months, I am at your mercy.' He swallowed at the evil smile that formed on Haley's face. 'That look can't be good.'

'I never did get you back for giving all my dolls haircuts when we were 7.'

'God, I was a terror that year, wasn't I? Was there anyone in the town who's property I _didn't_ destroy at some point?'

'Actually, now that you mention it, I remember my father being really angry one day cause some little punk broke the side window of his car with a football. He didn't get a good look at him, just told me he was small and blonde, and kinda looked familiar.' Peyton said, and they all looked at Tristan, who seemed to think about it.

'Actually, I think I remember doing that. Whoops... never knew my past would come back to haunt me like this, I mean, Peyton's dad's car, Haley's dolls, Lucas' basketball, and Rory of course, all in one day. Too many trips down memory lane.'

'Yeah, you know what, I agree, Tristan and I got the food and the videos, Peyton and Rory set up the beds, so let's settle in and watch some movies. What do you say, Hales? You gonna join us? We got MnMs, Pringles, Snakes, and the first movie on tonight's list is Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, I know how much you love to watch those Oompa Loompas dance.' Lucas said, draping an arm around her shoulder, and she smiled.

'I do love to watch the little orange men dance.' She consented, and while the other three moved out of the front living area into the room where the TV and beds were set up, Lucas hung back to check that his friend was ok.

'Haley, are you...'

'Thanks, Luke. This is what I need tonight, just a nice night in with my friends, remembering what it was to just be me, not Haley James-Scott, a wife, or Haley James, a singer on tour, just Haley James, crazy teenager, watching movies with her friends.' Lucas seemed to contemplate this, then he held out his hand.

'Alright then Haley James, just teenager, what say you and I go watch some movies with our friends?'

'I say alrighty,' he started to pull her out of the room, when she stopped suddenly, something he'd said earlier registering for the first time. 'Hey Lucas, who's Rory?'

'She's a long story, ask Tristan.'

A/N: hey, just a couple of quick lines to let me know what you think would be MUCH appreciated. I have the next few chapters outlined, so hopefully I can post again soon, but I've got a lot of work, and exams in a few weeks, so if you don't hear from me until mid-June, that's why, and I'm sorry in advance if that's the case. Thanks for reading...


	3. Chapter3:Heart to Heart and Reassurances

a/n: hey, looks like I'm on a roll this week. Here's another update! YAY!! Please let me know what you think

disclaimer: I wish I owned either show, that would be awesome, but alas I don't

Chapter 3: Heart to Hearts and Reassurances

Early the next morning, Lucas woke up surrounded by bodies, and for a second he was confused, until he remember the previous night. The last thing he remembered was watching Nicholas Cage driving backwards down a main road in front of a truck. He stretched slightly, trying not to kick anyone, but when that didn't work, he simply stood up, and made his way over his sleeping friends, and out into the kitchen.

He was sitting on a stool watching the pot of coffee heat up when he heard someone behind him, and he turned around to see a half-asleep Rory standing in the doorway.

'Hey,' he said, and she turned to him and glared. 'So, not a morning person, I take it?' At that moment the coffee machine made a noise, and he stood and poured out two cups of coffee, handing one to Rory, who took it and his stool.

'God bless you,' she mumbled, take a large gulp, and Lucas chuckled, earning him another glare.

'What's so funny, you abnormally cheery person.'

'Nothing, you just remind me of morning Peyton. Waking her up is pretty much a suicide mission, and trying to talk to her before she's had a coffee, or at least something to eat, is pretty much a waste of time and effort.'

'Sounds like me and my mum.'

'So, what are you doing up so early?'

'Surprisingly, I couldn't sleep, and then I smelt the coffee, so I figured my mother would disown me if I didn't follow it to the sweet, sweet coffee.'

'Just as addicted as Tristan told me. I thought he was exaggerating.'

'Oh, my mother and I need no embellishment, trust me.'

'I see that.' The two sat in comfortable silence for a few minutes, drinking their coffee, until Lucas broke the silence, asking 'so, I know you told us last night that you were here because your friend Jess was coming down here, and you didn't want to see, Dean was it? But...'

'But?'

'Maybe it's Haley rubbing off on me, but I can't help but think that's not the only reason...' he said, with a smirk that reminded her of Tristan.

'I don't know what you're talking about.' She said primly, and he laughed.

'God, you and my cousin are so alike.'

'No we're not!' she said, clearly trying to sound, and look, indignant, but it didn't work when he saw the smile creep through.

'Sure you're not. Neither of you will admit anything, it's actually kinda amusing.'

'Huh, you can talk.'

'Excuse me?' Lucas asked, raising an eyebrow.

'You heard me. You can sit here laughing about Tristan and I not admitting anything, have you looked in a mirror recently?'

'Yeah, actually, just last night. I was thinking I need to cut my hair, it's getting kinda long.' He said, and she smiled sweetly at him.

'Same sense of humour as your cousin, so clever.' Then she grinned. 'But seriously, Tristan and I are feeling-expressing... freaks, compared to you and Peyton.'

'And you've come to this decision after 12 hours?'

'Yep. It's a Gilmore gift, we're brilliant that way.'

'I see,' was all he said, trying to hide his smile.

'Hey, do not mock. No one mocks a Gilmore and gets away with it, ask Jess. Or Tristan.' She added, smiling at a memory, before shaking her head. 'Anyway, we were talking about you and Peyton. I'm being quite serious, though. Don't think I didn't notice the looks last night, I'm not letting you out of this kitchen until you tell me what they were about.' He looked at her in disbelief, and she raised an eyebrow. 'Don't believe me?'

'Well...'

'Yes?' She asked, now standing in the doorway, hands on hips. 'And if you utter the words _you're a girl_ I will kick something you boys seem so fond of.' She threatened, and though he laughed, he sat back down at the counter. 'Good boy.' She said, taking a seat next to him and patting his head.

'Ha ha.' He said, as she laughed at the look on his face.

'Aw, come on, don't be like that. And here I was about to be all impart-y and give you some of my great wisdom, but now...'

'I'm sorry, impart-y? Is that even a word? And Tristan said you were supposed to be smart.' That comment earned him a smack on the arm, and he held his hands up in surrender. 'Alright, alright, I give up. I will now sit here, in silence will you impart.'

'Thank you.' Rory crossed her arms and nodded. 'Now... where was I? Right, you and Peyton. Look, she told me you were just friends, but the way she said it, I'm sensing something more. Now, I don't know the whole story, and judging from the look on Peyton's face when she was on the phone last night, I'm kinda guessing there's someone else involved, but... I know the look, ok. And if there's one thing I can definitely say I know about... it's ignoring your feelings, staying with what's safe or what people expect you to do. I did that... and all I did was hurt people. Hell, I screwed up bad enough that someone I... could potentially love got sent to another state.'

'Ok... I know I said I'd sit here quietly, but... how was military school your fault? He broke into a safe.'

'Well, yeah... that was his bad. But... as stupid as it was of _him_, all the stuff he did that annoyed me, was to get my attention. Third grade tactics, sure, but I didn't want to see the truth, so I just used it to justify the fact that he was a selfish, stuck up rich boy. That's all I wanted to see, so it's all I saw. Until that last night, but it was kinda...'

'Too late by then? Yeah, I know the feeling...' Lucas supplied, remembering the night Peyton had turned up, and he had been with Brooke.

'Good to know I'm not the only kid out there making stupid mistakes.' Lucas couldn't help but laugh at that.

'I think it's safe to say that you're one among many in that category. At least you're only guilty of being naive.'

'And what are you guilty of, Mr Scott?'

'Oh, major stupidity, being a jerk, running scared, the list goes on.'

'Oh wow, you screwed up.'

'Yep. Try... Peyton walking in, telling me she was sorry for running and she wanted what I wanted, and then having Brooke, her best friend, walk out of your room, wearing only your jumper.'

'Wow, MAJOR screwed up.'

'Pretty much, yeah.'

'Ok... I see I have my work cut out for me here... wait till I tell my mum, she thinks I'm bad at reading people.' Lucas glared at her. 'Yeah, not impressive. Glare all you want. Until you've seen Lorelai Gilmore glare, you haven't seen anything.'

'Alright, fine, mock me, see if I care. So... tell me about your mum, she sounds interesting.'

'Interesting? That would be a TOTAL understatement. She's amazing, albeit a little crazy, but she's perfect that way. She got pregnant when she was 16, and then she moved out of her parent's house when I was about one. She ended up in Stars Hollow and got herself a house and a place to stay all in one at the local inn, the Independence Inn. We lived in a tiny little cottage there, well more of a shed really, until I was about 10, when she bought our house. We only saw my grandparents at Christmas, and stuff like that, cause their relationship isn't good. Then, I got into Chilton two years ago, and mum couldn't make the tuition, so she went to her parents, and in return for paying for me to go to school, we have to go to dinner every Friday night.'

'Wow.'

'Yeah.'

'She sounds amazing, and she reminds me of someone.'

'Who?'

'My mum. She got pregnant when she was a senior, right before graduation. She was so excited when she found out, and so in love. She thought she'd get married, have a family like she always wanted.' Rory saw the sadness in his eyes, and put her hand over his.

'What happened?'

'Dan Scott. He didn't marry her, instead he went off to college, knocked up another girl and married her, then moved back with his new family. My mum raised me by herself, and eventually she got enough money and opened the cafe. My uncle Keith helped her, he's amazing too. But it was still hard, seeing him every day. Still is, he's the world's biggest dick. Nathan, my half brother, he was the same until I joined the basketball team at the start of the year.'

'Nathan as in...'

'Haley's husband? Yeah, the same one. They started dating, he was trying to use her to get to me, and they fell in love, got married halfway through the year. He's actually a great guy, once he stops being an ass.'

'Interesting town you've got here.'

'Yeah. So what about your dad?'

'Oh, I see him every now and then, he drops by randomly to see us. I think he and mum are still in love, but I guess I've kinda stopped hoping that would happen now, and I don't actually think it's meant to be.' He noticed the smile on her face, and couldn't help but pry.

'Why, is there someone else you think she's meant to be with?'

'Well... don't _ever_ mention I said this, but I think she and Luke will end up together.'

'Who's Luke?'

'He runs the diner, supplies the coffee.'

'Oh, I see.'

'Yeah. So look, about what I said, I was serious. Don't waste time. You like her, tell her. I'm pretty sure she'll be open to the discussion. And about Brooke, I'm sure she'll be hurt, but if she and Peyton have that strong a relationship, they'll get over it and Brooke'll find someone she's meant to be with.'

'Yeah...' she could see he was still unsure, but could hear people moving around in the other room, so she didn't say anything.

'So... well that was a nice chat and now... this is sufficiently awkward... thanks for listening to me.'

'No problem, uh... thanks for the advice. Oh, and just an observation but... you and Tristan, you like him, and I know he'll _definitely_ be open to that discussion. And I think you could be good for him. He doesn't get a lot of stable in his life, or love. That's why he's here, even if he doesn't say it.'

'Any time.' She gave him a smile, then left the kitchen, just as Peyton came in. 'Morning' She said, in a loud chipper voice, grinning as Peyton winced.

'What's got her in such a good mood this early in the morning?' she grumbled, as Lucas turned from the counter, mug in hand.

'Well, it might have been the coffee I made...' he said, holding the cup out, just out of her reach.

'You know what happens when you do that to me.' She warned, and he shuddered at the memory of what happened the last time he'd done that.

'Fine,' he relented and handed over the cup. She took a sip and smiled, sitting next to him.

'Good boy,' he said, patting him on the head.

'Ok, this is some sort of conspiracy, isn't. You and Rory teamed up this morning and decided to mock me. I'm right, right?' She raised her eyebrows over her cup, looking at him in confusion.

'Huh?'

'Never mind. So, what's the plan for today?'

'Well, I don't know about you, but there's a certain, tall dark-haired _moron_ that I need to have a chat to. You?'

'Actually, I was gonna see if Tristan wanted to help me cheer Hales up. He always did have a way of making her laugh.'

'Well, with a face like that...'

'Hey!'

'I was insulting you cousin, not you, but now that you mention it, you do look an awful lot alike...'

'Alright, that it's.'

'What are you gonna do about it?' She asked cheekily, but she quickly stopped smiling when she noticed the evil look on his face.

'Well, I've still got the keys to your car, and I don't think you're gonna be able to find them.'

'You wouldn't!' but she didn't sound so sure as she studied his face.

'Oh, I would,' were his parting words as he all darted around her outstretched arm and through the doorway.

'LUCAS SCOTT!' She yelled, getting up to follow him.

In the living room, Tristan and Rory were having their own conversation.

'So, I know we kinda went over this last night, but... why are you here?'

'Well... Jess was coming down here... and then the Fair sounded like fun, but it wasn't... and he mentioned that we were near North Carolina... and I wondered what you were up to, out loud... and then the next thing I knew, he'd basically gotten my mother to agree to let me come out here with him to meet his mum at the Fair. And then, he called your house...'

'He didn't.'

'Yep. Got the butler.'

'Ah, good ol' Henry.'

'Yeah, and basically, after 10 minutes of Jess coming up with story after story, he said he had a very distraught young girl who needed to see you desperately, for which I kicked him _very_ hard later on, and then he said it was Rory Gilmore, he was off the phone in seconds, with the name of your school, to which he drove me on the first day of our road trip.'

'Why'd you go to my school?'

'Henry said you wouldn't have left yet, and so he decided we'd go straight there cause he didn't want to go another round with him. But when we got there this afternoon, you'd already left, and it took a while, but eventually...'

'Don't tell me you managed to break The Brick.'

'The what?'

'Who, not what. The Brick... Sergeant Bill, he was on gate duty when I left. No one ever gets passed him.'

'Oh, well, it took us like, an hour. I think my incessant talking, and the eventual tears got to him.'

'Wait, there were tears?'

'Yeah, Jess started to get frustrated, so he told me to turn on the water works, and then he told me that the version of Willy Wonka I've seen is actually an edited version, and in the real one...' she trailed off, blushing, and he put a finger under chin and lifted it up so she was looking at me.

'What did he say?'

'That in the real one all the Oompa Loompas died!' he couldn't help it, he tried, but he couldn't hold in the laughter at her statement, and the quivering lip. He tried to stop when she glared, but it only got worse.

'I'm sorry... but seriously... you... fell for that?'

'Well, I'm sorry if I'd had a long day, and I'd been arguing with a stupid soldier for an hour, and I was kinda stressing, so when he said the Oompa Loompas died, I didn't take it too well.'

'Ok, ok! Sorry. So, you started crying, huh? I bet that didn't go down too well with the Sergeant.'

'Nup... he started freaking. It was so funny, mum would've been proud.' Tristan was about to ask her something else when they were interrupted by Lucas sprinting through the room, followed very shortly by one very pissed of looking Peyton.

'Lucas Eugene Scott, I swear if you don't get that but of yours back here _RIGHT NOW_ you might not live to regret it!!' Rory and Tristan looked at each, and couldn't help the laughter that escaped, and they were still laughing a few minutes later when Haley came into the room, showered and dressed.

'What the hell's so funny?' She questioned, eyebrow raised as she took in the site of the two people in front of her.

'Peyton...' Rory started

'Chasing...' Tristan managed to get out

'Eugene...' Rory finished, and they both started again.

'So basically, Lucas was being chased by Peyton, who was clearly pissed enough to use his full name, thus informing you that his middle name is Eugene.' Haley said, and they nodded. 'Alright, carry on.' She said, as if this were the norm, which it was.

'So,' Rory managed to get out after they'd calmed down enough to speak, 'is your middle name as embarrassing?'

'A gentleman never gives away all his secrets in one go, my lady,' he informed her, trying to look serious and failing miserably.

'So, what are we doing today?'

'Well, actually, Lucas requires dear Tristan's services to cheer up one Haley James-Scott, and I have an ass-kicking to attend to...'

'Which, actually, I think you'd very much be of service at.' Lucas interjected, earning him a glare from Peyton, and a confused look from Rory and Tristan. 'She's going to find Nathan, and give him a piece of her mind, always scary by itself, and I think that Rory might be useful.' He looked pointedly at her, and as their discussion from earlier flashed through her head, she nodded.

'Alright, lead me to the bathroom, give me 15 minutes, and I'll be all set for the ass-kicking.' She said, standing up.

'Which means she'll be good in about an hour,' Tristan said softly, but not soft enough, and as Peyton and Rory left the room, he was rubbing his head. 'Man, that girl looks soft, but she hurts.'

'Aw, did poor Tristan get beat up by the big nasty girl?' Haley asked in her best baby voice as she entered the room, and Lucas snickered.

'Shut up,' Tristan said, pouting and crossing his arms, giving the perfect impression of a three year old, which Haley was quick to point out.

'So, what are you guys up to today?' she asked, and Lucas looked at Tristan.

'Actually, _we_'re going down to the rivercourt. Peyton's hijacking Rory for a few hours, so I thought the three of us could go down and hang out, it's been a while. We're gonna meet them at the cafe later for lunch' He gave Tristan a quick look, and he nodded in agreement.

'Sounds good. But I'm impatient, so you better hurry up and get dressed or I'm leaving without you,' she threatened, and after a quick look, they both saluted her and left the room to get ready. When she was alone, Haley's head started to fill with thoughts about the previous night, and her fight with Nathan. She looked around, panicking slightly, not wanting to be left alone with her 

thoughts, so she started cleaning the mess they'd made the night before, and 15 minutes later, she had cleaned up all the rubbish and stray food, rearranged the furniture and re-laid all the makeshift beds, so there would be more space for each of them if they stayed again.

'Hey Hales, ready to... woah... we weren't gone _that_ long, were we?' Lucas asked, referring to the amount of cleaning she'd accomplished.

'What... no, I just, it's no big deal, I used to do it all the time at home.' The two boys continued to stare at her, and she started fidgeting. 'Whatever, so are you two losers ready to go or what?' She asked, and they nodded, and started joking, reminding them all of the summers they spent together when they were younger.

'So, tell me more about Nathan. If I'm gonna come and watch you kick his ass, I'd like to know more about the why. All I know is he's married to Haley and they had a major fight.'

'Not so much fight as a separation sort of deal. She started singing with this guys Chris Keller, who's a total jerk. Anyway, they recorded a song, but she didn't tell Nathan she was doing it with Chris, and then he had the song played at our Junior Formal, and that's when he found out, and the fought, and then not long after Chris asked her to come on tour with him and The Wreckers, which was after he kissed her, and she and Nathan fought again and then she left. He went to see her, and it didn't go well, I think she wasn't wearing her ring, and in an interview Chris said that they were together, and she didn't deny it. And now she's back.' Rory contemplated her new friend, yes friend, she felt very close to this girl already. As she contemplated her, Peyton turned to her, and raised an eyebrow in a silent question.

'I was just thinking, you sound a little pissed off, and I'm not sure it's all at Nathan.' Peyton turned away from her.

'I feel sorry for Haley, I really do, she was so upset last night and it sounds like once again, Nathan acted like a jerk, but...'

'But he's your friend, and she left him and hurt him, and you wanna be mad at her? I understand that feeling...'

'Why do I get the feeling there's a story there?' Peyton asked and Rory laughed.

'Cause there is. My mum was dating my teacher about a year ago...'

'Woah, back up, your mum dated your teacher?' Peyton asked, incredulity evident in her voice.

'Yeah, but that's not the point of the story. The weirdness of _that_ in itself is for another conversation. The point of this story is to tell you that you can be mad at both of them and still sad for both of them. So, mum and Mr Med.. _Max_, they eventually got engaged, and at the time, I couldn't remember ever seeing her so happy, not even with my dad, and it was all great, until her bachelorette party. We went out, a whole group of us, including my grandma, and she was telling us about the week leading up to her wedding, and how she put on her dress every night, and I don't know, I guess it got to mum, and the next morning, she woke me up really early, and we left town, drove all day, ended up at this freaky Bed and Breakfast and we went to Harvard, which was so cool, and again, so totally not the point. Anyway, as I think you can gather, the wedding didn't 

happen, and it was horrible, cause I had Max at school after the summer, and Paris forced me to interview him for the paper, and I felt so angry at my mum at that point, because it was so awkward, and I really liked him, he was a great guy, and teacher, and she put that awkwardness between us, but at the same time, I'd seen how hurt she was when she ended it, how much she'd wanted it to work but couldn't. I was torn.' She shrugged to signal the end of her story, and looked up to see Peyton staring at her. 'What?'

'Wow... that would be so, incredibly...'

'Awkward? Uncomfortable? Embarrassing? All of the above? Yeah. So anyway, I understand where you're coming from. So don't feel bad. So uh, should we get going?' Rory stood up, and Peyton nodded. They grabbed their jackets and headed out.

'So, Tristan, what brings you down here to our small town for the summer?' Haley asked, throwing the ball at the hoop, cheering when it went through.

'Well, I was already down here for Military School and considering it was my parents who decided to ship me down here, and didn't feel it was necessary to visit me, well, I decided the idea of spending summer with Aunt Karen and cousin Lucas was much, _much_ more appealing than spending it alone at home. And you, missy, where did you learn to shoot like that? You had _no_ sport skills _whatsoever_ when I left this town last time.' Tristan asked, shooting the ball through the hoop. He regretted his question when Haley's smile fell, and instantly knew Nathan had taught her. 'But you know, whoever your teacher was, I bet they couldn't teach you this could they?' He said, showing off and getting a smile out of her.

'Nah, cause it takes someone with awesome skills to be able to teach something like that. How long did it take me to teach you that Tristan?' Lucas said, stealing the ball from him and running it down to the hoop.

'Ha ha! God, I missed this. How long's it been since you were here?' Haley asked, making her way over to the table to watch the boys.

'God, it's been what? At least four years. Last time I can remember being here we were all, 12 I think?'

'Why'd you stop coming up here? Got to be too good for us, huh?' Haley joked, as the boys ran around on the court, stealing the ball from each other.

'Yeah, pretty much.' He said, shrugging, causing him to lose the ball to Lucas once again. 'Nah, I don't know. Mum and dad started going to Europe for the summer, you remember they weren't here at all that last summer, and I guess, they decided I was too much of a hassle to dump on Karen again, so I spent the last four summers at home, or at my grandparents, around Hartford.' He gave Haley a look then took off after Lucas, almost getting the ball before Lucas took his shot.

'Now see, _that's_ how you play basketball.' Lucas said, grinning at his cousin, and as Haley watched them interact, she was struck by how similar they were, something she'd forgotten, and she decided she was extremely happy Tristan was here for the summer. Lucas and Tristan were exactly what she needed to get her mind off Nathan and her mistakes. She shook her head, and stood up.

'Ok girls, enough of that. You know what we need?' The cousins looked at each, and shrugged before looking at Haley and shaking their heads. Haley grinned at their unity, it was cute. 'We need ice cream, duh.'

'Ah, obviously.'

'We should have known.'

'Shame on us Lucas.'

'We mustn't let it happen again.'

'No, of course not.'

'Then it's agreed.'

'Most definitely.'

'Excellent.' The two cousins turned to Haley, who had an eyebrow raised and a hand on her hip.

'That was... really, _really_ creepy, I hope you two know that.'

'Yeah.'

'But it was worth it for that look on your face.' The two cousins laughed, as they collected their things and followed Haley off the court.

'Alright Nathan Scott, get your damn stubborn ass out of bed.' Nathan groaned, and rolled over, pulling the covers over his head. 'Don't even try and pull that on my buddy, up!' He felt the sudden cold as the covers were yanked off him, and he growled before rolling over to glare at whoever was interrupting his sleep. His angry words were cut short by the sight of Peyton and a mystery brunette standing at the side of his bed.

'Peyton? What are you doing here? And who are you?' Peyton rolled her eyes.

'I'm here to see you, I thought that much would be obvious. And this is Rory, Tristan's friend.' He looked confused, and she remembered he would have never met Tristan. 'Tristan's Lucas' cousin from Connecticut, and Rory here is his friend. Then knew each other at school, before he got shipped off to Military School down here in good ol' North Carolina. But that's not the reason we're here. Like I said, we're here to see you, and get your lazy ass out of bed. Now up!'

'Tough love, classic Sawyer.' Nathan mumbled to himself as he got up. 'Fine, I'll be back in five minutes.' Peyton smiled, and sat on the end of his bed to wait. Rory walked around his room, looking at all of his posters and trophies and CDs. She pulled out an Eminem CD.

'Ok, so not to put Eminem down or anything, but seriously? Could this be any more of a typical guy's room? Sports trophies, rap posters, crap everywhere. Are you really telling me that you dated this guy? And Haley _married_ him?'

'Well now I'm offended,' Nathan said as he entered the room. 'I'll have you know I'm considered quite a catch.'

'And I'll have you know you sounded nice and gay right there,' Rory informed him without missing a beat. He looked at her for a second, then smiled at Peyton.

'I like this one. She just might make the summer interesting.'

'Oh, I can think of a few other things.'

'Yeah, like what?'

'Well, for one, there's the fact that as of last night, my house is officially the summer headquarters, and apparently official sleeping ground for everyone.'

'Everyone bar me, it would seem.' Nathan said, an eyebrow raised.

'Yeah well, it was just the four of us, until _your wife_ showed up looking for Lucas, in tears. God, you're like a brother to me, and I know the hell you've been through since she left, but god, you should've seen her last night Nate, I could've killed you when I opened the door. She was a mess. I'm not saying you have to welcome her back with open arms, but... she's your wife Nate, you love her and you know she loves you. It may be a little late, but I don't think it's _too_ late, not yet. Make sure that in 10 years you won't look back and kick yourself for how you acted.' He sighed, rubbing his hand over his face.

'I know Peyton, but...'

'But it's hard? Cause she really hurt you and you don't know how to deal with it?' Rory offered, and he looked at her. 'Look, I know you don't know me, and this might not mean much, but I know pretty much what she's feeling right now, cause I've watched my mother go through this from Haley's point of view, and I knew the guy too, and I can tell you, it's not easy from either side. But when the person who made the mistake, who ran, realises they made a mistake, cutting them out isn't the answer. You'll just end up hurting both of you more than you are now.' He was still staring at her, and so she shrugged. 'Single mum.' She said in answer.

Haley, Tristan and Lucas walked along the beach, ice creams in hand, in cones like Haley had specified. 'See, I told you guys it had to be in cones, didn't I?'

'Yeah Hales, you told us.' Lucas agreed, wrapping his arm around her shoulders.

'And I was right, it's much better isn't it?'

'Sure it is Hales,' Tristan said in the same voice as Lucas, wrapping his arm around her waist, looking at Lucas over her head. Lucas looked down at the almost finished ice cream in Haley's hand, and nodded to his cousin, who grinned back.

'So, what do you want to do next...' Haley's question was cut off by a squeal as she was suddenly hoisted in the air by the cousins and quickly carried into the ocean. 'You wouldn't dare!' she said, looking them.

'Oh wouldn't we?' Lucas asked, and she looked between them, at the identical grins on their faces, she wasn't so sure.

'No.' She said, but it came out softly, and as soon as she'd said it, she felt herself falling, landing with a nice splash between them. The two boys were laughing when she surfaced, and she found her footing, turning to glare at them.

'Oh, you think that was funny do you?' She asked, and they stopped laughing instantly, seeing the evil glint in her eyes. They swallowed, giving each other an uneasy look.

'Now Hales...'

'There's no need to do anything...'

'Hasty? Oh, don't worry about that,' she said, and she jumped, managing to knock both of them over at once, dunking them fairly successfully for one her size. They came up sputtering, and she grinned in success. 'Told you, you didn't want to do that.' She said, and then suddenly, they were attacking her with water.

Down the beach, Nathan was walking with Peyton and Rory, when he saw a girl being carried into the water by two guys.

'What ya looking at Nate?' Peyton asked, following his gaze. 'Hah! That poor girl... oh my god!'

'Isn't that...?' Rory started, looking sideways, and Peyton nodded.

'Haley? Being dumped in the water by Lucas and a Lucas look-a-like?' Nathan finished for her, still staring. He watched his wife surface, turning to glare at the boys who looked worried. He almost smiled when he saw her jump at them, dunking them, but then he caught himself. 'You know what Peyton? You got me out of the house, I saw the sunlight, so I'm just gonna go home. Nice meeting you Rory, see you later Peyton.' Without giving them time to protest, he walked off, leaving them alone. Peyton shook her head.

'At least we got him out of the house. Come on, let's go get the others, grab lunch. I'm starving.'

'Hey mum,' Lucas called as they walked into the cafe, nearly dry after walking through the sun to the cafe.

'Lucas, why are you wet? Tristan, Haley... wait, you didn't, did you?'

'Did we do what, Aunt Karen?' Tristan asked innocently.

'That didn't work when you were 8, it's not going to work now. You two threw Haley in the water didn't you? You used to do it every summer, the first time you went to the beach, I remember.' Karen told them, and suddenly Haley remembered too.

'Oh you did, I should've remembered.' Haley said, glaring at the guys.

'So, I'm guessing your here for lunch? Grab a table, I'll be over in a minute.' They all sat down, and just as they did, Rory's phone started ringing. She took it out, looked at the caller ID.

'Rory's phone of flying monkeys and singing orange men,' she answered, laughing softly at the strange looks she got.

'_Child of mine! Did you watch Willy Wonka and The Wizard of Oz recently that I don't know about?'_ Lorelai's voice came through the phone.

'Last night actually,' she told her.

'_Wow, you convinced Jess to watch Willy Wonka and The Wizard of Oz?'_ Lorelai sounded impressed.

'Well actually, I'm not with Jess.'

'_Who are you with? Did you pick up a biker? What have I told you about that habit Rory?'_ The others laughed at Lorelai's response as Rory had put her mum on speaker, and Lorelai became confused. _'Who's laughing? Oh, is it your mystery people that you will tell mummy about right now before she starts to panic?'_

'Yes, they're the mystery people. Jess is with his mum, about 2 hours from where I am. I'm in Tree Hill.'

'_Tree Hill? Never heard of it, why are you there?'_

'Well, we got to the school, but it was empty, summer and all that, so we found out that... well, I had to come down to Tree Hill, and it was late when I got here last night, so I crashed here.' Rory explained.

'_You stayed with SOS?'_ Lorelai asked.

'Sorta, and SOS? Oh don't worry, I get it. Spawn of Satan. Clever.'

'_Glad you think so, and what do you mean, sorta? There is no sorta about it kid, you either did or didn't.'_ Lorelai was concerned now.

'Well, I went to the house, and I was tired and sort of running on excitement and nerves, so I hugged who I thought was Tristan, and who actually turned out to be his cousin Lucas, and thus I met Lucas Scott and his mum Karen, and Lucas' friend Peyton. Then I realised I had nowhere to stay, and I'd sent Jess back to his mum, and so Karen said I should stay, and Lucas, who didn't know Tristan was there, said he was going to Peyton's and we should all come, so the four of us were there, getting ready for a movie night, and then Lucas and Peyton's friend Haley turned up, so she joined in the oompa loompa fun and that's who you heard laughing.' Rory took and breath, and heard silence. 'Mum?'

'_Sorry, just a lot of information for mummy to take in. So, you're currently staying in a house with 4 other kids, are there any parents there?'_

'Well, no, Peyton's dad works on a boat, but Karen's nearby and, actually, we're at her cafe right now.'

'You kids ready to order?' Karen asked, not noticing the phone.

'_Now who's that?'_ Karen looked confused, trying to find the voice before she noticed the phone on the table.

'Oh sorry, I didn't realise you were on the phone.'

'No it's fine, it's just my mum. Mum, this is Karen, Lucas' mum.'

'_Hi Karen. Wow, it's weird to meet someone over the phone. Never done this before.'_ Lorelai said.

'Nice to meet you...'

'Lorelai,' Rory supplied.

'Nice to meet you Lorelai. I'm gonna guess you're a little worried about Rory?' She asked, remembering when Lucas had left with his uncle.

'_Oh just a tad, you know. So they're staying at Peyton's house?'_ Karen heard the real question under the one that was voiced.

'Yes they are, Lucas has never liked Peyton being alone in that house, and well, I'd have them at my house, but it's rather small. Although I must admit I'm a bit more relaxed knowing Haley is staying with them now. She can get into trouble with Lucas but it's always the harmless kind, she's a good voice of reason.' Lorelai nodded back in Stars Hollow before she realised that no one could see her.

'_Alright. And your Lucas' mum?'_

'Yes, Karen Roe.'

'_Roe?'_ Lorelai asked, _'but isn't Lucas' name...?'_

'Yes it is. Rory, do you mind if I take your phone for a minute?' Rory shook her head, and Karen picked up the phone, moving towards the back. 'From what Rory said last night, and the tiny bit of information I managed to get out of my nephew before they left, you're a single mum. So am I. I know what it's like when you're kids go away and you can't see them every day, especially when you've always been the only constant in their lives. It's scary, but you can relax a little, I'll keep an eye on Rory while she's here.'

'_Thank you, all though I should warn you now, don't be surprised if I turn up in your cafe one day in the next few weeks.'_ Karen laughed.

'Alright, I'll keep an eye out for you. Bye Lorelai,'

'_Bye Karen, it was nice to meet you, so to speak'_ They hung up and Karen returned the phone to Rory.

'Just for reference, what does your mum look like?'

'She's gonna come visit isn't she?' Karen nodded, and Rory shook her head. 'I should've known. She's sort of like an older version of me, but if you don't recognise her and she comes in, she'll be the one ordering insane amounts of coffee.'

'We get to meet the woman who created you? This should be interesting, and it might explain a lot.' Peyton said, and they all laughed. For a minute they forgot everything else, Lucas and Peyton forgot they'd hung up on Brooke last night, Haley forgot her husband wasn't talking to her, and Rory and Tristan forgot the implications of her coming to find him. Just like last night, they revelled in just being teenagers for minute.


	4. Chapter 4: Who's That Guy?

Disclaimer: I own neither show, I know it's sad, but it's the truth.

A/N: I'm sorry I've been so neglectful! But I'm back, and hopefully with more frequent updates now that school is over!! Anyway, I know this chapter is really short, but I SWEAR that the next one will make up for it. This is sort of a filler to get me to where I want it to be. Anyway, enough of my ramblings and on with the story...

Chapter 4: Who's that guy?

Two weeks had passed since Rory had arrived, and the 5 new friends had settled into a semi routine. Their days were always spent doing different things, they go to the beach, the river court, Peyton would visit Nathan, but at night they'd get food and settle in with a few movies.

Today they were all downtown, at the mall, as per Haley, Peyton and Rory's request. The guys had given in due to being outnumbered. So now they were being used as pack mules, each carrying at least five, rather heavy in Tristan's case, shopping bags. They were heading for the food court now, since the girls were complaining that all the shopping was making them hungry.

'Remind me to _never_, under any circumstances, do this again.' Tristan whispered to his cousin, who only nodded in agreement.

'What was that, Tristan?' Rory asked sweetly, and he shook his head.

'Nothing. Come on, let's go get some coffee in you.' Rory cheered when he said that, and grabbed his arm to drag him towards the coffee.

'Those two will definitely be together by the end of summer.' Peyton mused, and Haley laughed.

'Not without some help.' Lucas commented, hearing her, and the two girls looked at him. 'Well, Rory obviously likes him, she wouldn't be here otherwise, and to everyone but Rory it's obvious Tristan more than likes her, but she's scared of being rejected and he's scared of scaring her. Ergo, they will need help. But maybe not your kind of help Hales,' he added, seeing the look in his best friend's eyes, and she glared.

'I'm excellent at helping couples thank you very much.' She said before she crossed her arms and walked off.

'I have to say I agree with you. Come on, I'm starved.' Peyton grabbed his arm, pulling him forward.

'So what are you guys getting?' Peyton asked as they came up behind Rory and Tristan.

'Mmm, burger and chilli fries, and lots and lots of coffee.' Rory said.

'I should've known Gilmore, I can drive you interstate and it still won't do anything to change your unhealthy obsession with coffee.' Five people swivelled around to see a shorter, dark haired boy standing behind them, hands in his jeans, smirk in place.

'Jess!' Rory ran forward to hug him, and he smiled.

'The one and only.'

'What happened to your mum and the fair?'

'Oh, they're still there, and still very crazy. I had to get out. And you, well, I see you found Tristan... and Tristan's clone?' He asked, looking between Lucas and Tristan.

'Mariano, it's been too long. I'm Tristan over here.' Tristan said, holding his hand up in a mock salute.

'And I'm Lucas Scott, _not_ Tristan's twin or _clone_, considering I'm three months older.'

'Nice to meet you.' He said, nodding at Lucas, before he turned his attention on the other two girls.

'Peyton Sawyer.'

'Haley James... Scott.' Haley added, correcting herself, and watched Jess' look become puzzled.

'James-Scott? Are you guys related by marriage or something?'

'Or something...' Haley murmured, and Lucas laughed.

'Hales is my best friend and as of a few months ago, my sister-in-law.' Lucas couldn't help but laugh at the look on Jess' face, same with Tristan.

'Your... what? Aren't you all in high school?' He asked.

'Yeah, Hales married my younger brother.' Again, they all laughed at the look on Jess' face, it was priceless.

'Your younger... really? But...'

'Yeah, Nathan's about Tristan's age. A few days younger I think.'

'Ok, you're kidding right? You're messing with me. How can you have a brother Tristan's age?' Rory laughed but patted his arm.

'It's alright Jess, just give you brain a minute, then we'll explain.' He glared at her, and she smiled.

'Haley married my younger brother Nathan Scott, my mum is Karen Roe. Nathan and I have the same father, biologically. So Haley is my sister-in-law. Dan married Deb and then moved back here after Nathan was born. My uncle Keith, Dan's older brother, helped mum raise me.' Jess took it all in a processed it, then turned to Rory.

'And I thought my family had issues. Remind me to not complain again.'

'So noted. Come one, we're about to eat!' Rory turned and he grinned at Tristan.

'Never try and come between a Gilmore and her food.' Tristan nodded in agreement, and Rory huffed.

'Damn straight, now hurry up! All of you,' she added as an afterthought as Tristan and Jess followed her and the others remained still. Haley and Peyton looked at each other and smiled.

'Yeah, come on Lucas!' They said in unison, and he glared.

'Oh no, don't even think about it – you will not do that again.'

'Do what?' Haley asked innocently.

'You will not band together to make me do things... I won't do it.'

'Oh sure you will Luke.' Peyton said, linking an arm through his while Haley did the same on the other side of him. He let himself be dragged forward, shaking his head at Tristan and Jess who were watching with smirks.

After lunch, they had wandered into a music shop, and Peyton and Haley were off discussing music with Jess, seeing if was as up to standard as Rory said he was. Lucas came up behind Tristan and Rory who were debating over a CD.

'Hey,' he laughed as they both jumped and spun, guilty looks on their faces. He'd have to mock his cousin later, but for now he had an idea to run past them.

'Hey, so I had a sort of... crazy idea,'

'Oh, I love crazy ideas! They're usually the best kind.' Rory said happily.

'I figured. I thought I'd ask you first cause well, it involves Jess and you know him best.'

'Lucas, what are you thinking?' Tristan asked, looking at his cousin.

'Well, I was thinking, Nathan's being a stubborn ass concerning Haley, not admitting he still loves her and whatnot, and Jess has just arrived in town, and no one knows who he is...' He trailed off, looking at them, and saw Rory's look of confusion and Tristan's smirk of understanding.

'What... oh!' He laughed as Rory's face turned into one of comprehension. 'You want to use Jess to make Nathan jealous? That could potentially end badly, as I can attest to the fact that Jess won't hesitate to fight, even if he doesn't know why he's fighting.'

'So? Maybe it'll take a fight, and a few knocks to the head, for Nathan to realise what a dick he's being and finally get over himself. Ok, so you guys are cool with it?' They both nodded, and Lucas smiled before turning to find their other three friends. 'Hey Peyt! Come here a sec, I need you to agree on me with something.' She gave him a look, but made her way over.

'What?'

Haley watched Peyton make her way over to the group, and saw the looks they all sent her and Jess' way as Lucas told Peyton something. She turned to Jess.

'So I'm gonna take a guess that whatever it is she needs to agree with him on has something to do with me, or us. And knowing Lucas like I do, I'm pretty sure I'm not going to like it.'

'So are you going to try and find out?' He asked, not looking up from the CDs he was looking through.

'Hmm, no. I think it'll be safer all around for me if I just don't.'

'Well at least that way if something happens, you won't have to feign innocence.'

'That is true. And not to totally act like my scheming best friend over there, but please tell me that you agree that Rory and Tristan need a little push?' At this, he finally looked up at her, a smirk on his face that she decided was far too similar to Tristan's for her liking.

'Why do you think I'm here? Not to sound all sappy, but I've been waiting for this to happen since the first time I saw them together. Then Tristan had to go and get his ass sent to Military School and it took Rory forever to break up with Farmer John. And can I just add in that you're two seem to be very similar to Rory and Tristan? Unresolved issues?'

'Oh yeah...' She trailed off, laughing.

'Do tell. If I'm gonna be stuck her for the summer I gotta have something to keep me entertained. And Rory and Tristan, as oblivious as they are, will be together in no time.'

'Well, in a nutshell, Peyton used to date Nathan, Lucas' younger half-brother, until Lucas joined the basketball team and they broke up. He's been in love with Peyton for years, and so after he joined they got closer, but then something happened and he started dating her best friend Brooke, but then screwed it all up by hooking up with Peyton who broke things off after he'd broken up with Brooke. I'm not sure what happened when I was away, but Brooke's now gone for the summer and they seem to be getting closer, although something's holding them both back, and I have a feeling her name is Brooke.'

'Ok seriously? Your town has issues. I thought Stars Hollow was crazy, but Tree Hill? It takes the cake.'

'Yeah, we're a regular TV drama down here, but what are you gonna do? So, what do you say we make this summer a little interesting, huh? I need something to keep me occupied and I think playing match maker will do that nicely.'

'Do I have to?' She gave him a puppy dog look that reminded him instantly of Rory and so had him giving in quickly. 'Fine, but if anyone asks, I had nothing to do with this, deal?'

'Deal,' she agreed, shaking his hand to make it formal. They were both laughing as the other four joined them.

'What's so funny Hales?' Lucas inquired, coming to stand next to her.

'Oh, nothing. Just mocking some of today's _musicians_.' She answered, throwing Jess a look. Lucas noticed but decided not to comment.

'Alright. Well, Rory's starting to get coffee cravings, so we're gonna go, you done?'

'Yeah, we're good. Besides, from what Jess said, I don't think I want to see a Gilmore deprived of coffee.'

They all left the store, Haley making her plans, Jess watching Rory interact with Tristan, and the others, namely Lucas and Peyton, trying to decide how to make Nathan jealous. Yeah, their summer just got a whole lot more interesting.

A/N: so there you go! I know it probably wasn't worth the wait, but I swear I'll make it up next chapter!! And I'll try not to wait over 2 months this time.


	5. Chapter 5: Match Maker, Match Maker

Disclaimer: I don't own One Tree Hill or Gilmore Girls. Many things would probably have been different if I did.

A/N: OH MY GOD!! I'm soooo SORRY! It's been forever since I updated, and I feel so terrible. I love this story, it's one of my favourites to write, but this chapter... I had such a hard time getting it out. I knew where I wanted it to go, but getting there, just wouldn't happen. Anyway, I have a much better plan for the next few chapters, and since I'm going away at the end of July for the rest of the year, I promise to have this finished by then. Anyway, enough of my insane ramblings, and on with the chapter.

Chapter 5: Match Maker, Match Maker

'Alright, so I've decided today that we're spending the day at the beach. No complaints, I don't care and I don't wanna hear them, so everyone you have fifteen minutes to get everything together, we'll meet out the front. Move it.' Rory had become the unofficial event planner for the group since the others were, for the most part, indecisive and, well, lazy when it came to making plans day after day. And they had learnt, after the first few times, not to argue with her, just to do as she said.

'I swear, it's like having Brooke here when she does that.' Peyton whispered to Haley, and the two laughed as they made their way upstairs to Peyton's room to pack a few things for the day's outing.

Twenty minutes later, Peyton, Haley, Lucas, Tristan and Jess were in the Peyton's car and Lucas' car, boys in one, girls in the other, waiting patiently for Rory. They had learnt, quickly, that when Rory said fifteen minutes, she meant at minimum twenty, but usually twenty-five, yet they all still made sure they were ready in the time she allotted. Sure enough, three minutes later she bounded out the front door, turning the key Peyton had left sitting in the lock for her, turning to grin at her five friends.

'You know, one of these days, we're all going to boycott being ready by the time you tell us, and you'll come out to empty cars,' Peyton informed her as she slid into the backseat, handing her the keys. Peyton started the car and pulled out of the driveway and following the boys down the road.

'Oh, no you won't, you'd never do that to me,' Rory told her, leaning between the seats to grin at them. 'Come on, don't want to leave the boys alone for too long, who knows what could happen.' It was Peyton's turn to grin now, as she briefly glanced back at her.

'Or is it that you just don't want to be away from a certain blue-eyed, blonde we all know?' Rory froze for a second, and then suddenly smirked.

'Well, that's ridiculous Peyton, I know how you feel about Lucas, I'd never try to come between you.' She said sweetly, and Haley laughed, earning her a glare, which did nothing to stop her laughter.

'Oh, but didn't I tell you? Lucas and I decided we'd be better as friends, and the last two weeks, I've really gotten close to Tristan, he's so sweet, and hot too.' Peyton responded, and if Haley hadn't seen the look in Peyton's eyes, or the slight smile on her lips, she might've believed her, like Rory seemed too in the minute of silence that followed.

'Oh, so you like... really? Huh, well, I guess that's... nice.' Rory finally managed to get out, flopping back on the seat, and two seconds later Peyton started laughing, causing Rory's eyes to narrow as she stared at her. Peyton pulled up in a spot next to Lucas' car and then turned to Rory.

'I'm sorry, I'm not laughing at you, I swear, it's just, did you really think I liked Tristan? Or that I would do that to you? You and Tristan are like, made for each other. You're a perfect mix of opposites attracting, and, well, two people with really similar likes and whatnot falling for each other. If that makes any sense?'

'Yeah, like a mix between a couple like Haley and Nathan and a couple like, oh I don't know, you and Lucas maybe?' Rory asked innocently, and Haley laughed, despite the mention of her and her estranged husband.

'Well, if Lucas and I were a couple, then yes, considering how similar we are, that would work.' Haley threw her a grateful smile for not mentioning her and Nathan, and then they all jumped at the knock on Peyton's window. She turned to see Lucas looking down at her expectantly. 'Guess we better get going.'

'Finally, what were you three talking about? We've been here nearly five minutes.' Tristan said as they all exited the car.

'Well now, that's really not true. Two, three minutes tops. Stop being such a baby.' Rory told him, giving him a placating pat on the shoulder which earned her an eye roll and a laugh from the others. 'Come on, let's get down there before there's no good places to sit.' Turning, she made her way down to the sand, the others following.

They had all settled in on their spot at the beach, Lucas was reading with Peyton lying on his right listening to music, and every now and then she would reach over and stick a headphone in his ear to make him guess what the song was, or if she thought he hadn't heard it and would like it. Haley lay on his other side, discussing literature with Rory and Jess who were above them and Tristan had apparently fallen asleep, at least that was the conclusion Rory had come to since he hadn't moved or made a sound for a while, and he wasn't really the quietest of people.

Since Haley and Jess were currently involved in a heated debate about _Les Mis_, Rory took the opportunity to study her surroundings, and she smiled inwardly when she spotted who she was pretty sure was Nathan running in the direction of the car park. She turned to Jess, and prepared to turn on her very best puppy dog eyes.

'Hey Jess, I left the bottles of water in Peyton's car and I'm really, really thirsty, can you go get them?' He looked up at her, pausing mid sentence, and raising and eyebrow at her.

'Uh, considering who I'm talking to this is probably a stupid question, but why can't Peyton get them?' He asked, and pouted, and leaned towards the two conspiratorially to whisper to them.

'She can't, cause look at her and Lucas right now,' they turned to look and saw Peyton once again sticking a headphone in his ear and as they watched moved suddenly, rolling her over and pinning her down with one hand, while the other reached down and grabbed her iPod, before he leaned down and whispered something in her ear. Then he sprung up and took off down the beach, her iPod still in his hand, and it took Peyton only second to get up and run after him, yelling at him. Rory turned back to Jess, a smug look on her face.

'That's why, and Tristan's asleep, and you know I hate waking people up, unless I've just been woken up and in that case that's just me inflicting the pain I'm in on other people, which sounds really mean but it's not really...'

'Ok, fine I'll go!! Where are her keys?' Jess cut off her rambling, knowing she was doing it purposely to make him agree. Haley rolled over and leant into Peyton's bag, fishing them out.

'Here ya go,' she said, rolling back and holding them out to him.

'Hey Hales, why don't you go with him? You can keep him company, and continue your debate. I know how Jess hates to lose momentum once he's gotten started.' She said it so casually that neither Haley nor Jess saw a problem with it, but once they were gone, Rory jumped when she heard a low chuckle coming from directly behind her, and she turned to find Tristan sitting up, and a lot closer than he had been since their kiss on the piano bench. She was suddenly at a loss for words, nervous and unsure and she knew Tristan would be able to tell, he must, and knowing him he was about to make fun of her, which would just serve to add to her complete embarrassment.

'You don't think you're taking Lucas' whole use Jess to make Nathan jealous thing a little too far?' He asked, and she exhaled loudly, unaware that she'd been holding her breath until that moment, but she was too grateful that he hadn't said anything to make fun of her that she didn't care that she'd probably just made a fool of herself yet again. She swallowed, and then shrugged.

'Well, I saw Nathan running towards the car park, and it just seemed like too good of an opportunity to miss. And I didn't realise you were awake, you've been so quiet and still and that's just not like you and you scared me and... don't do that again.' She scolded, and he smirked, finally reaching up to remove the sunglasses that had hidden his eyes and she could see the look of mischief in his eyes. 'Uh oh, that look can't mean anything good. What?' She asked, wary of what that look meant.

'Well, I was just thinking, since Lucas seems to enjoy meddling with other people's love lives, if we shouldn't meddle with his, just a little.' He told her, smirking when she smiled at him.

'Well, I guess great minds do think alike, huh?' She responded, and he grinned.

'So you admit I have a great mind?' He asked, and she rolled her eyes.

'I knew I shouldn't have said that, but unfortunately it was the only thing that fit. Now, if your ego is done patting itself on the back, can we get back to the topic of Lucas and Peyton? You know Lucas pretty well, what with being his cousin and all, and I'm pretty sure I've got a good understanding of Peyton, so my conclusion is that this could potentially take a long time.'

'Well, considering what Lucas has told me, I'd have to agree. And even if they weren't both so scared and stubborn, there's still this Brooke chick to think about. I'm pretty sure Lucas is more than willing to ignore her existence, at least for the time being until he's forced to deal with it, but Peyton...' He trailed off, and Rory nodded in agreement.

'Yeah, she's been really vague about the whole thing, but from I've gathered and what Haley mentioned, Brooke's pretty much like the elephant in the room, except not, sort of. I dunno, except that she's one of the main reasons Peyton's set on avoiding anything happening.'

'Lucas kinda dated Brooke last year, after he felt rejected by Peyton who told him she wanted to be with him right before Brooke walked out of his room and then it all got more screwed up when Peyton and Luke had a sort of thing and then none of them really talked for a while, and for whatever reason Luke told Brooke he wanted to be with her right before she left, and now I'm pretty sure he's regretting it, but Peyton's determined not to lose Brooke so she's acting like she doesn't like him and this town is such a soap opera it's just not funny anymore.' Tristan finished, lying back down and laughing, shaking his head in amusement.

'Wow, that really does make things more complicated, but also more interesting.' He turned to look at her, a questioning look in his eyes.

'You are one odd girl Rory Gilmore, you know that?'

'Thank you.'

****************************************************************

'You brought this on yourself Peyton,' Lucas yelled behind him at the blonde who was chasing him up the beach.

'Lucas Scott, if you do anything to that iPod I will make you live to regret it.' She vaguely heard his laughter, and the laughter of the people they ran past, but she was focused solely on the boy running ahead of her, and the small, very expensive piece of equipment in his hands. She knew he'd never _actually_ throw it in the ocean, but the fact that he'd threatened it was enough. 'Get your ass back here! Don't make me middle name you!' she called out, and smiled as he slowed quickly to a stop. He turned slowly, and glared at her.

Making his way towards her, he stopped briefly next to a family and said something to the mother before handing her Peyton's iPod. She frowned, and started to move forward to collect it when he turned back to her. She froze when she saw the look in his eyes, and barely had time to turn when he had caught up to her and was scooping her up, turning with her in his arms and running into the water.

'No! Lucas...' Her voice was cut off when he dropped her unceremoniously into the water, and she came up spitting out water and pushing her hair off her face to find Lucas was now out of the water and collecting her iPod from the woman, apparently thanking her before making his way calmly back down the beach while Peyton stood in the water and watched. He'd made it more than halfway back to their spot before she moved out of the water to follow.

'Excuse me, miss?' Peyton paused and turned to find the woman standing near her.

'Yes?'

'Your boyfriend wanted me to tell you that he'd never hurt your source of music, but if you still want to get him back he'll be waiting by the water, minus you iPod.' She smiled at Peyton before making her way back to her family, leaving Peyton staring after, a half smile on her face before she realised the woman's words.

'He's not my boyfriend,' she called after her, but the woman only turned and smiled knowingly at Peyton, before reaching down to pick up her daughter. Peyton shook her head and turned, scanning the beach for her friends. Haley and Jess were making their way down the beach towards Rory and Tristan who were still with all their bags. Jess had his arm around Haley, who looked upset, and she made a mental note to ask her about it, but for now she was only interested in finding a certain blonde boy. Turning away from their friends, she finally spotted him, down in the water like he'd said, his hands evidently empty as he stood waist deep his hands skimming the water as it splashed around him.

Even though he was waiting for her, and basically letting her get him, she still wanted her revenge, so she sprinted towards him, leaping onto his back when she was close enough. Even though he'd been waiting for her, he hadn't been expecting that and the force of her jumping onto him caught him off guard and was enough to send him forward, Peyton holding onto him, her legs wrapped around his waist.

Lucas felt himself submerge, his head sinking fully under the water, and he could still feel Peyton's weight on him; it might not be much, but when you're head down in water, having someone on top of you never helps. Thankfully, a moment later, he felt her roll off him, and he came up, sucking in some much needed air, before turning to look at her.

'Happy now, are we?' he asked, standing up and looking down at her. She was about to answer when a wave came up and splashed over her head. Lucas grinned down at her when she resurfaced, and she glared. He rolled his eyes and held his hand out for her, pulling her up to her feet, accidentally pulling a little too hard, causing her to stumble into him. She quickly found her footing, before placing her hands on his chest to push backwards, but she paused for a moment at the feel of him under her hands, before another wave hit them, pulling her out of her reverie, and she moved her hands, putting them behind her back, as if, if they were out of sight, they could ignore what she had just done.

'Thank you,' she whispered, and she heard him sigh. She looked up, and he smiled at her. 'And for the record, yes I was very happy. Even though I got dunked too, it was totally worth it. You so didn't see that coming, did you?'

'No, I wasn't expecting you to jump me. I guess I should've known though, I mean, I knew you were just waiting for the opportunity to...' he was cut off by her hand over his mouth.

'If you know what's good for, you so won't finish that sentence.' She warned, looking him straight in the eye. He nodded, and she removed her hand.

'You know you wanted to,' he said quickly, and softly, but not soft enough for Peyton to miss it. Her arm came out and hit his shoulder. 'Alright, alright, I'm sorry, I won't mention it again. Come on, let's get back up there before any of them do some damage.' He took her hand and started to drag her back up the beach towards their friends. Peyton caught sight of Haley as they came up to the group, and remembered her crying earlier.

'Hey, you guys finally made it back,' Tristan said once they were in earshot, and Lucas rolled his eyes.

'Shut up, we weren't gone that long. And besides, with us gone, and Haley and Jess wherever they went, you and Rory had some nice alone time.' Peyton retorted, and he narrowed his eyes at her, but shut up. She turned to Haley, flopping down next to her. 'You alright?' At Haley's questioning look, she elaborated, 'I saw you earlier, you looked like you were crying. Don't tell me, Nathan right?' She nodded, and Peyton wrapped her arm around her shoulder.

'Rory sent Jess and I up to get something out of your car, and we were up there, and Jess said something and I was laughing, and all of a sudden Nathan was there, saying that I clearly didn't care about making things better, and why had I come home, so I could just flaunt another guy in his face and, well then...' she trailed off, clearly upset again.

'I hit him,' Jess finished for her, and they all looked at him. 'What? The guy was being a jerk, and she was upset... come on, it's not that big of a deal. You know I hate seeing girls cry, and plus, any excuse to start a fight. Anyway, he was about to hit me back but Haley pulled me away and after telling Nathan he was wrong, she dragged me back here.'

'I can't believe you hit Nathan,' was all Peyton had to say, and they all laughed, including Haley, but Lucas and Peyton shared a look, and Peyton nodded. She knew this would most likely be the last straw for Lucas before he had to go see his brother. For now, they all focused on having a fun day at the beach, and forgetting all the drama in their lives.

***********************************************************

'I call first shower!' Rory yelled as she jumped out of the car before Peyton had even completely stopped. Haley followed, yelling about something not being fair. Peyton took her time getting out, before going to the backseat to collect the things the others had forgotten about in their race to the shower. Lucas' car pulled up behind her, and the three boys stepped out, looking from her to the yard and back, as if trying to figure out why she was alone.

'They're fighting over first shower,' she answered the unspoken question, and they all nodded in understanding. Tristan and Jess started grabbing the few things they had in the car while Lucas made his way over to help Peyton. 'So, I guess you'll be paying Nathan a visit tomorrow, huh?'

'Yeah. I probably should've done it a while ago, I just kept putting it off, cause...'

'Haley didn't want you to get in a fight over her?' Peyton supplied, and he nodded.

'Pretty much. But it's not just about her. I messed up, and there's no way he's gonna listen to me about Hales until all the other stuff's dealt with. I mean, I knew he was in a bad place after Haley left and he just needed me to be his brother, someone to trust, and I lied to him, I mean, what was I thinking?' He asked, turning to look at her and she sighed.

'Luke, you were thinking that Dan Scott is an evil bastard that needs to be stopped and under better circumstances, even a few months earlier, Nathan would've agreed, hell, he would've helped. It was just bad timing, and you couldn't help that. You had an opportunity you weren't likely to get again, you had to take it. And, it might sound weird, but I think you're gonna have better luck getting him to listen to you about Haley at the moment. You get through to him about that, all that other stuff won't matter.'

'Ya think?' He asked, and she nodded. He sighed, running his hands through his hair.

'God, how did things get this complicated? I mean, a year ago, it was just me and Haley, hanging out, going to school. Now, she's married, to my half brother. Speaking of, we've managed to go from hating each other to friends, to brothers and back to the start.'

'Well, that's what you get in Tree Hill.' Peyton said carelessly, raising one shoulder in an effortless shrug, causing Lucas to start laughing.

'That's so true.' He was facing her now, as she leant against the side of her car. He watched as she started laughing, and had to shake his head as thoughts of how beautiful she looked in the fading sun entered his mind. Those sorts of thoughts were dangerous, especially considering their history and recent events. That still didn't stop him from muttering, 'what would I do without you Peyton Sawyer?'

She stopped laughing and looked up at him, her eyes searching his, guarded and confused. He was set to explain, to brush it off, but decided that was not an option.

'I'm serious Peyton. You always know what to say, or when to say something. You listen to me ramble on about nothing and everything without complaining, and you know me, better than anyone ever has or probably ever will.' He finished softly, and she opened her mouth to respond but nothing came out as she had no idea what to say. He took her silence to mean she didn't really want to be hearing those words, and immediately took a step back. 'God, Peyt, I'm sorry. This is all so screwed up, and I've probably just freaked you out, and confused you cause of what I said to Brooke, but the thing is, is that I realised that I'm an idiot.' She raised an eyebrow and he laughed.

'I'm an idiot because I said all those things to Brooke, but it took me less than twelve hours to realise I'd said them to the wrong girl. I did exactly what I did all those months ago; try and hide with Brooke because I couldn't have you, and she was the next best thing, and I totally realise I sound like the world's biggest jackass right now, but it's true, horrible, but true. Nathan told me after the dance that my heart was flawed, that there was something in it that I was running from, a girl. And he was right. And I knew he meant you, but you'd just told me we weren't friends, and I knew you needed Jake, so I made myself believe it was Brooke, and even though she was with Felix, it was easier to be around them than you and Jake, cause it didn't hurt like it hurt to see you two. And then she found the box, and I said I kept it to remind me of the mistakes I'd made, and I said it was with her, but it...'

She chose that moment to cut him off, because she'd hear enough and she wanted to hear more but he looked so damn cute, standing there trying to explain everything to her and she really wanted to kiss him. So she did.

He was shocked when she kissed him, and it took him a few seconds to even register what was happening, and just as she started to pull away, he started to respond and she stopped. Her hand came up and slid around to the back of his neck, and he slid one arm around her waist, the other coming up to bury itself in her curls, the way he always loved to do when kissing her.

Her free hand came up to grab hold of his t-shirt, trying to pull him closer, and he moved in response, moving them both, backing her up until she hit the side of her car, and was pinned between it and him. He moved his hand from around her waist to rest on her hip, pushing the hem of her tank up slightly to let his fingers feel her skin, and she followed suit, moving her arm around to his back, pushing it up beneath his top to move over his back.

Despite being in her driveway, in full view of all of her neighbours, neither cared, too wrapped up in the feeling of finally being there together that nothing short of an apocalypse was going to separate them.

'Peyton?'

Or the return of Brooke Davis.

A/N: I hope it was worth the wait, and sorry for the slight cliffie, I couldn't resist. Next chapter, Lucas and Nathan talk, Brooke confronts Lucas and Peyton, Jess gives Brooke some advice and Lucas and Rory make a deal.


	6. Chapter 6: So, We Need To Talk

A/N: OH MY GOD!!!!! I'm BAAAAAAAAAACK!!! I am SOOO sorry it took me so long to update, I've been back a month, but surprisingly there was a lot to catch up on after being away for 5 months. So, this is the new chapter, I hope you guys like it – and that I haven't made any mistakes. I did briefly skim over the other chapters, but anyway, this is what I have. So, enough from me… enjoy, oh and feel free to leave a review :D

Disclaimer: Don't own either show, although I have been to 'Tree Hill' so cool!!

Chapter 6: So, We Need To Talk

Peyton's head jerked back at the sound of her name, the sound of her best friend's voice, and Lucas did the same. They shared a quick look, of regret, guilt and a range of emotions in between, before they both turned to look at the brunette standing to the side.

'Brooke,' both blondes said her name at the same time, shocked to see her there, feeling guilty for what they had been caught doing and for the emotions clearly displayed on her face as she stared at them in disbelief.

'Oh my god…' They barely heard her, but they both knew what she had said. Those three words seemed to send a shock through the two blondes, who looked back at each other, and they moved away from each other; Lucas moved backwards and Peyton turned sideways, looking straight on at Brooke, who was still standing in the same spot as she had been since she first spotted the two.

'Brooke…' Peyton moved towards her friend, at a loss of what to say. She stopped short when Brooke finally moved, taking a forceful step backwards, away from her. 'Brooke…'

'Don't, Peyton. I can't… God, you told me… you said there was nothing going on, and _you_,' she said, turning to glare at Lucas, 'you told me you wanted to be with me, and I _believed_ you. I believed both of you, and now… again, Peyton?'

'Brooke…'

'Brooke, this is my fault. I'm the one who told you those things, and I thought I meant them, and Peyton didn't know, and I…'

'You thought you meant them? That's just great, Lucas. I should've known; fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me, right? I should've known when I found that damn box, I mean you told me it was to remind you what a mistake you'd made, and I believed you. You know what, I'm done. I'm just… done.' She turned on her heel, and started to march away.

'Brooke!' Peyton started to run after her, but she whirled around, stopping Peyton with the look in her eyes.

'Don't, Peyton. You were my best friend, and you knew how I felt and you had Jake and I thought, I thought you weren't going to hurt me. I trusted you… guess I should've learnt by now you can't trust anyone, even the ones you love.' She turned and walked away, leaving Peyton standing alone on the sidewalk.

After a while, she turned back and headed for the house, and saw Lucas still standing in the same place, staring at her, and even with the distance between them, she could see the guilt and sadness in his eyes, on his face and in the way he was standing.

'Peyt… I'm sorry.' She almost missed the words, he whispered them so softly, but she saw the look in his eyes and knew what he'd said.

'Luke,' she shook her head, not knowing what to say. When she was close enough, he pulled her into a hug.

'This is all my fault Peyton, I'm so sorry. God, I keep screwing up.' The words were muffled by her hair, since he'd pressed his face into her curls, as he'd been known to do.

'Lucas, this isn't… you told her you wanted to be with her?' She pulled back, and he was hit by the sadness, anger and confusion he saw written on her face, and in her eyes. He closed his own eyes, unable to face the pain in her eyes. 'I don't get it, I don't get _you_. You told me you said some things to her, but you told her _you wanted to be with her_? And then you kiss me? Is this all some big, weird, twisted game to you?' Lucas' eyes popped open and he shook his head.

'NO! God, Peyton, no! I just… I'm an idiot, I'm the world's biggest jerk. But I meant what I said. I convinced myself that everything I told Brooke was true, that I felt those things for her, but I was _lying_. To her, to myself, and I'm sorry…' He trailed off with the last few words, and let his head drop, taking in a deep breath while he waited.

'Lucas… I don't… I can't right now, I'm sorry.' She turned to move into the house, but turned back and placed the softest of kisses on his lips before she turned and ran, passing Haley, Tristan and Rory who were all, by now, standing on the front porch, watching. Rory shared a quick look with Haley, before following Peyton inside, while Haley made her way across the lawn to her best friend.

* * *

Jess watched the scene unfolding on the lawn with confusion, and slight amusement, then felt a small pang of sadness for his two, new, friends and the brunette girl now fleeing the scene. Looking at the house, he saw Rory, Tristan and Haley, and knew Lucas and Peyton would be fine, so he headed off down the street after the mystery girl, for reasons he couldn't fathom, but didn't think about as he followed after her.

He walked quickly, and within a couple of minutes, had caught up to her. He slowed down as he neared her, and casually came into step with her. She didn't seem to notice at first, but suddenly she looked sideways and stopped short.

'Who are you and what do you want?' She demanded, putting her hands on her hips and glaring at him in a way that was so obviously meant to intimidate him that he almost forgot what he was doing, almost laughed. Almost. The clear pain in her eyes, and the way her voice cracked just slightly, stopped him, reminded him why he was there.

'Jess Mariano, I know Rory and Tristan. I've been staying at Peyton's house with everyone else.' He noted that she tensed at her friend's name, the way her eyes narrowed slightly.

'Oh, so you've been staying with my once-best friend and her lying, dick of a co-cheater?' She asked, and he shook his head, held his hands up in defense.

'Alright, you don't know me, and I don't know you, but I'm gonna tell you a story, ok?' She didn't respond, but she didn't move to leave, so he took that as her agreement. 'Alright, so about 6 months ago, my mum decided to send me to live with my uncle. Never met the guy, he lived in a small town, I lived in New York, I wasn't impressed. My second day in town, I met Rory. She's pretty much the nicest girl you'll ever meet. Not the usual kind of person I was friends with, but she was smart, witty, and I actually… fell for her. I met her boyfriend, big tool, I didn't care who he was, and let him know it.' He paused and shook his head slightly, bringing his hand up to rub the back of his neck before he continued.

'Then I met Tristan. I only met him like twice, and spent all of about 20 minutes with him, but I liked him enough. Was a bit of a spoilt rich kid, but a lot of them can't help it, so what're you gonna do about it, right? I also saw him with Rory, only for like a minute, but that minute was enough. It was pretty clear that, despite the boyfriend and her continual insistence she didn't like him, even as a friend, that Rory wasn't just looking at him like a friend, or that that was going to change. Then the next day he got shipped off down here to Military School, and I thought that was my chance, she'd forget all about him. But then she got a letter from him. That was when I let her go, even if she didn't know.' He paused, clearly uncomfortable as he looked around, before continuing, 'I know this might hurt, but I saw the same look on Peyton's face, and Lucas'. I also know from Haley that they've both, Peyton especially, been holding back because of you. It was hard to let Rory go, but honestly? I'm pretty sure it's better than having her and knowing she wished I was someone else.' He shrugged, and looked at her. 'Ok, so I just filled my sentimental, talking-about-my-feelings quota for probably the next decade with that, so you should feel _very_ special.' He told her, smirking slightly, his usual sarcastic tone returning, 'and I know you probably don't like my advice, but I think you'll hate yourself if you don't take it. Talk to Peyton.' He left her standing on the sidewalk as he made his way back to the house, passing Lucas, who was still standing on the grass, Haley next to him trying to get him to speak as he stared at the door Peyton had disappeared through.

'Hey, where were you?' Tristan's voice stopped his journey to the house, and he turned to look at the blonde, who was standing on the front porch, watching his cousin and friend.

'Walking, talking.' He told him, and Tristan raised an eyebrow.

'Talking to who?' Jess shrugged, and then sighed when Tristan stared at him. 'Brooke.'

'Brooke… Brooke Davis? The girl who just screamed at Lucas and Peyton on the front lawn? About what?'

'Just gave her some advice. Peyton ok?' Tristan paused for a minute, then nodded.

'I think so. I don't know. Rory's with her. I'm kinda worried about Lucas. He hasn't moved.'

'He hasn't moved?' Jess asked, turning around to look back at Lucas, who was still in the same position.

'Not an inch. If it wasn't for the situation, it'd be pretty damn funny, the guy's basically imitating a statue. But, considering what we saw, I'm getting worried. And… huh, well that's probably not going to help.' Jess followed his gaze and his eyebrow raised in amusement when he saw Brooke Davis walking back across the lawn towards Lucas.

'Brooke-' Haley was cut off when Brooke held out her hand to silence her, and the brunette cleared her throat and stepped back from her friends, keeping an eye on Lucas who finally moved at the sound of Brooke's name.

'Brooke-'

'No, I'm gonna talk. What I just saw, what I felt – no boy's ever had the power to make me feel that before, and I hate that you not only had the power to do it, but that you did it. But however much pain you can cause me, it's nothing compared to the pain I know you _could_ cause Peyton, for the simple fact that she's so completely in love with you. And I'm sorry for getting in the way.' Her voice started to shake, and she cut off Lucas before he could speak with a look. 'But don't think this in any way lets you off the hook, Lucas Scott. I'm here for Peyton, cause I love her, she's my best friend, but I can't forgive you yet. I _need_ to forgive her, so I'm gonna hold on to that hate for you for a little while yet. Now I have to go talk to her.' She started to move past Lucas, towards the house, but she paused half way across the yard and turned back to look at him one last time. 'Oh, and Lucas?' she waited for him to turn and look at her. 'You hurt her, I hurt you, don't ever forget that.'

Tristan stepped aside as she climbed the steps to the veranda, letting her past before looking back at Jess and grinning. 'I think I'm gonna like that girl.'

* * *

'Peyton, you need to come out of the bathroom, alright? I don't know exactly what happened, but if you explain it, I'm sure I can help.' Rory had been trying, unsuccessfully, to coax Peyton out of her bathroom for nearly 10 minutes.

'God, I'm such an _idiot_!' This was the same response she'd been getting every time Peyton decided to reply, and was serving to only frustrate Rory.

'No you're not, but you know what, you keep this up, I'll start to change my mind. I mean, what smart girl thinks locking themselves in a bathroom will help things. What you need to do is talk to people, like me, and maybe Lucas and who I can only assume in Brooke. I know you feel like you've betrayed her, trust me, I understand the feeling, but you can't help who you love, and Brooke, she'll come around, if you're as close as you say, she'll understand.'

'He told her he wanted to be with her.' Rory froze, straining to hear the words through the door, her eyes widening with the realisation that Peyton apparently hadn't known.

'What? Peyton, what did you say?'

'Before she left for the summer, Lucas apparently told her he wanted to be with her. So she's off in California, thinking they're gonna be together when she gets back, and then she comes home and sees me _kissing_ him! I'm the world's worst best friend.'

'Well, then I'd say that makes Lucas a grade A moron and a bit of a dick, but that's not your fault, you didn't know. You've still gotta talk to them both, Brooke first, sort that out, then if you want help kicking Lucas' help, I'm all yours.' The laugh she'd been trying to illicit came, not from behind the bathroom door like she'd hoped it would, but from behind her in the bedroom. She spun and came face to face with Brooke Davis.

'I don't know who you are, but I like you. Even more so cause you're looking after my best friend. And you were right, I do understand.' She turned her attention to the closed door now, and raised her voice to carry through it. 'Peyton, I understand. I need you to come out here and talk to me, please.' There was a beat of silence, before she added, 'I promise not to slap you.'

The door creaked open, and Peyton's head popped out through the gap, eyes red from crying as she looked at her best friend.

'Brooke?'

'I think we need to talk,' Brooke said, softly, and gave her friend a reassuring, if small, smile.

* * *

Rory slipped unnoticed out of Peyton's room, and made her way downstairs. She followed the low voices into the kitchen, and found the three boys sitting around the table, Haley at the counter making coffee to occupy her. Lucas looked up at the sound of her footsteps, and despite what Peyton had just told her, Rory's heart broke a little at the look on his face.

'Is she ok?' No one needed to ask which girl he referred to, and the others all looked to Rory for her answer.

'She's been better,' Rory threw out there to torture Lucas, just a little, 'but she'll be fine. Brooke's talking to her, I think they're gonna be alright. I think it'll all be alright.' Lucas exhaled loudly and let his head fall into his hands. Rory looked to the other three, and indicated the door with her head.

They all nodded and made their way to the doorway, Haley pausing to share a quick look, girl to girl, with Rory before she nodded again and followed Tristan and Jess out the door.

'So, you know you make it really, I mean _really_ hard to yell at you when you're sitting here looking like it's very possible you're about to cry?' Lucas looked up as Rory sat down opposite him, confused.

'What?'

'I had every intention of yelling at you, for what you did to those two girls. But apparently I don't have quite as much of my mother in me as I thought. Now, if you'd looked less like a… puppy that just got kicked, I probably would've yelled. As it is, now I can't. But I will ask what the hell you were thinking! Telling Brooke you wanted to be with her, then kissing Peyton? And not telling Peyton you said that to Brooke?'

'I know! I am literally the world's biggest dick right now. I've hurt two people I… two people I really care about, one I love, all because I was scared. I screwed up so badly, and I can't take it back and now… I've lost a girl who's a great friend and a girl who's…' he trailed off, burying his head back in his hands.

'Who's what, Luke?'

'Everything.'

'That's all I need to hear. Ok, what you need to do now, is take Peyton on a date. A nice, romantic dinner, spend some time alone, talk, just be together without everyone else.' This got Lucas' attention, and his head came up and he looked at Rory like she'd just grown two heads.

'Ok, sure. I'll just walk upstairs and ask Peyton to dinner. I'm sure she'll say yes, what with the _fantastic_ way things went outside earlier.'

'Lucas, I'm telling you, this is what you two need. It'll be great.'

'And I'm telling _you_, that Peyton will never say yes. After everything that just happened ,there's no way.'

'She will, I promise. You just have to ask her.'

'Alright, I'll make you a deal. I'll ask Peyton out when you ask Tristan out.' Rory froze, caught. She bit her lip, trying to find a way out of it. On the one hand, she really wanted Lucas to ask Peyton out, she was sure Peyton would agree once things were cleared with Brooke. But on the other… asking Tristan out. Not something she wanted to do.

'Fine.' She cursed herself silently, knowing she'd regret this. 'I'll ask Tristan, and then you have to ask Peyton.' She held out her hand, and smiled at Lucas' smirk. He thought she wouldn't do it. He underestimated how determined she was to see him and Peyton get their act together. So they shook on it, and then Rory sat back and folded her arms, shaking her head.

'You guys really are the weaker sex, you know that? Thinking things through really does not seem to be something any of you are capable of.' With that as her parting words, she rose and left Lucas to his thoughts.

* * *

Haley left the guys to clean the mess they'd made the night before, and ignored that morning in lieu of going to the beach, and headed out of the house and started to walk aimlessly through the town.

Over the past weeks, between the situation with Nathan, and watching Peyton and Lucas grow closer, she'd started to forget about the brunette out in California. And witnessing the scene this afternoon, the pain in Brooke's eyes, the guilt in Lucas' and Peyton's, brought back, not that they were ever far from her mind, the feelings of guilt over what she'd done to Nathan. Lying about Chris, kissing him, leaving on tour… what she'd said to Nathan about rushing into things when he came to visit her. She knew, as soon as he'd been gone, that she'd made a mistake. Losing him again, the pain of finding him gone, and understanding what he must have felt when she left, and had made her realise she was wrong. But, like Lucas, she'd panicked and instead of owning up to her mistakes, she continued the way she was.

Now that she was back, the reality of it right in front of her, made it all the more difficult. She'd only seen Nathan a handful of times since the night she'd returned, and it hadn't been easier – if anything, it got worse each time. They always seemed to catch each other at the worst times, like today with Jess. If they could only…

'What are you doing here?' Haley looked up, taking in her surroundings, and cringed when she realised she was at the Rivercourt, and Nathan was standing in front of her.

'Nathan…' she trailed off, lost for words. She'd just been wishing that they could talk, without anyone else there, and now she had the chance and had no idea what to say. 'Nathan…'

'What do you want Haley? You don't have you boyfriend here to flaunt, so what could you possibly want?'

'Nathan… God, he's not my boyfriend, for the last time. He's a friend of Rory's, and with the way Rory and Tristan, and Peyton and Lucas keep pairing off, we've been thrown together but there is nothing going on, I swear. You know there's no one but you.' She almost took a step back at the look her threw her, and it was the first time she'd felt scared in Nathan's presence.

'How exactly do I know that Haley? I sure as hell didn't know it when you kissed Chris Keller. Or what about when you left with him on tour? Or let him tell the country that you're a couple? What about when I came to see you, and you told me you thought getting married was a mistake? Huh?'

'I'm sorry, Nathan! That sounds weak, and stupid but it's true. I made a lot of mistakes, and I wish I could take it back. I just… do you think you can ever forgive me?' There was silence, and Haley looked into Nathan's eyes, trying to get a glimpse of the boy she'd married not months earlier. All she saw was the same hard, cold look she'd seen in the weeks since she'd come home.

'I don't know Haley. I'm not gonna lie, or sugar coat it, so that's it. I don't know. I have to go. Mum needs my help.' Haley watched him walk away, and willed herself not to cry. As he disappeared from her view, she lost her internal battle and the tears came. She fell to the ground, curling up into herself, as rain started to fall around her, causing her to cry even harder. The rain, they'd said, used to signify the best moments in their relationship. If this was what their best was now, she didn't know what to do.

* * *

Peyton and Brooke were sitting in silence on Peyton's bed, where they'd been sitting for nearly ten minutes. Peyton kept shooting glances up at her best friend… ex-best friend?... then averting her gaze, just as quickly, afraid of what she might see.

'Alright, this is stupid. Peyton… this shouldn't be so hard, right? We've been best friends for, what? Nearly 10 years. I'm not gonna punish you.' Peyton looked up at Brooke, shocked. Of all the things she'd expected to hear, it wasn't that.

'What?'

'I know you, and that's probably what you're expecting. And trust me, when I left earlier, that's pretty much what was running through my head, how to make you pay.' She paused, taking a deep breath before she continued. 'Then I got some advice – not what I wanted to hear, let me tell you, but it was kind of hard to argue with, you know? And I realised I was holding on to Lucas because he was the first boy to see me, not just want to sleep with me and move on. But you… you've been in love with him since last year. I knew it, but I didn't want to see it and I hurt you, and then, of course, everything else happened and I was so mad at you.'

'I know – Brooke, you have to believe that I didn't mean for this to happen. I know that doesn't mean anything, but it's true. And I didn't know he told you he wanted to be with you. He told me he'd said things to you before you left, but I didn't know –'

'Peyton, I know. I heard you earlier. Which leads me to say that Lucas is a jerk and also to question why either of us wanted him. But, the rational part of me, the part that is pretty much hiding out to give my emotional side full rein at the moment, knows why, and it also knows that in about five seconds you're going to tell me that there's nothing between you and Lucas, it was a mistake and our friendship means more than any boy. So I'm saving you the breath and telling you that of course our friendship is worth more than any boy, but I also don't want to see you miserable. I kind of wish that I did, but we went through all of this last year, and I hated it Peyton. I hated not having you as my friend, and punishing you, it hurt me too. So, I'm letting you off the hook.'

'Letting me off the hook? Just like that? No yelling, no name calling? You don't even want to call me a bitch?'

'As tempting as that is, no. Peyton I know that you wouldn't have kissed him if you didn't feel something, a very strong something. You're the queen of burying your feelings, I've watched you do it for ten years. I don't want you to do it because of me. You love that boy, and there's too much romantic in me to let you sabotage it for me. And I'm pretty sure that boy, loves you too. You deserve to be happy Peyton.'

'Brooke, I can't do that. I…' Brooke grabbed her hand, and squeezed it tight.

'No.' Peyton looked at her friend through tear filled eyes, unsure. 'No, Peyton. You can, and you will. I just want you to be happy. You know, deep, deep down,' Peyton grinned in response to Brooke's smile. 'I'll get over it Peyton. Sure, it's gonna hurt for a while, but I _will_ get over it. You know why?' Peyton shook her head, and Brooke smiled at her and pulled her into a hug. 'Because he's not my happiness, Peyton, he's yours. I just, borrowed him without asking for a while, and now I'm returning him, cause he didn't fit me.'

'You make him sound like a jacket,' Peyton commented, sending them both into a fit of laughter.

'Well,' Brooke tried to get out between laughs, 'a very cool, leather jacket. Made especially for your skinny ass, one of a kind?' This only served to fuel Peyton's laughter.

'Oh god! How did we get from talking about Lucas to jackets? And my ass is not skinny.' Peyton tried to sound indignant as she swatted Brooke, but as she was still laughing, she failed to pull it off.

'Oh, it so is P. Sawyer. You're just jealous you don't have an ass like mine.'

'Yeah, that's it. How did you figure me out?'

They lay side by side on the bed, laughing for over five minutes before they calmed down, and Brooke rolled onto her side to face her friend. 'I meant what I said earlier, Peyton. All joking aside, Lucas was never the boy for me, I get that now. He is the boy for you, however, and I'm not gonna let you push him away for me. Guilt doesn't look good on me. So when that boy comes to talk to you, listen, maybe punish him a little, but you say yes. Got it?' Brooke sounded so much like a drill sergeant, Peyton couldn't help but salute her.

'Sir, yes, sir!' She ducked out of the way of Brooke's hand, and then nodded. 'I get it. Why are you so good to me?' Brooke sighed, and flipped her hair.

'I don't know, I guess I'm just awesome that way.'

'That you are, B. Davis. That you are.'

* * *

Rory walked out into the living room, pausing only at the sound of laughter coming from upstairs. She looked at the two boys on the couch, an eyebrow raised in amusement.

'Well, at least we know there isn't bloodshed.' She commented, moving to sit next to Jess.

'Unless Brooke's just really happy about the bloodshed. Did she strike you as the crazy, homicidal maniac type Jess?'

'I don't know, what about you Tristan?'

'Well, I only really saw her on the lawn outside, you however…'

'Alright, I'm leaving. I'll be back later.'

'Wait, what's he talking about Jess? JESS? Tristan, what are you talking about?'

'Nothing, just guy stuff.' Rory huffed, folding her arms over her chest and glaring at him.

'You do know that girls _hate_ that answer, right? _Guy stuff_? That's just crap. You're all idiots.' Tristan laughed, and wrapped his arm around her, pulling her in for an awkward hug, and she tried to protest but ended up laughing with him.

'Come on Rory, you know you love us.' He grinned down at her, and she tried to hold back her laughter, failing miserably which led to him tickling her.

'No! Tristan, stop it! STOP!' Rory was squirming, and in the process, managed to end up on the edge of the couch. She was about to roll off, when Tristan grabbed her waist and pulled her back on, and coincidentally, under him. When their positions registered, the two froze, looking at each other, neither wanting to ruin the moment, or make it potentially very awkward. Rory was watching Tristan very intently, trying to figure out where the moment was heading, and when his head started to duck down to hers, she panicked, and moved to sit up. Although she diverted her gaze, she noticed him close his eyes as he moved off her, and she sighed.

'Tristan,'

'Don't worry Rory, I'm sorry. Got… caught up in the moment, I guess.' He told her, trying for his usual carefree grin, and missing, ending up with a half grin, half grimace instead.

'No, Tristan. I was gonna say… will you have dinner with me tonight?'


	7. Chapter 7: Settling Things

Disclaimer: don't own either Gilmore Girls or One Tree Hill… oh that I did

A/N: OH MY GOD! Has it been ages or WHAT? I'm soooooo sorry.. I don't even know when the last time I updated was… was it this year or last year? Well I was away for the last 5 months of last year, and then I started uni this year, and wow going back to school after more than a year is really weird, let me tell you. Not used to doing homework… or studying… or exams, which I'm actually in the middle of, but oh well. I finally got back to writing this, and it all flowed really quickly, so who am I to postpone, right? Anyway, enough rambling, here's the next chapter!

Chapter 7: Settling Things

'No, Tristan. I was gonna say… will you have dinner with me tonight?' Rory was looking down at her hands when she asked, refusing to look up at him. Finally, after minutes of silence, she glanced up at him. He was simply staring at her, and she couldn't read the expression on his face. 'Tristan? God, you know what, forget I asked.' She moved to get up, but was stopped when he grabbed her wrist, forcing her to turn back around and look at him again.

'Are you serious?'

'I was… again, let's just forget this happen.'

'Nope. I don't think so. I think we should sit right back down here and talk.' He tugged gently on her wrist, and she gave in, allowing him to pull her down next to him. 'Alright, so you just asked me out.'

'Yes?' Her answer came out more like a question, and he grinned at her.

'Yes, you did. Ok, next question would be, why?'

'Why what?' Rory asked, trying to play dumb just a little until she could escape.

'Why did you ask me? I'm not complaining, far from it, but it seems a little out of the blue. Rory, before you turned up here I hadn't heard from you in months. Last I knew you were still happy with Dean, and that was that. So, why?'

'Alright… I'm guessing you wanna know what happened between you leaving and me arriving here?'

'That might help.' He agreed, nodding, and she took a deep breath, shifting away from him slightly so she could look directly at him.

'Ok, so… I got the letter.' She whispered it so quietly, he wasn't sure he'd actually heard it.

'What? You got my letter?'

'Yeah. And at first, I guess I was just really shocked that you wrote to me. I mean, I know we didn't leave things really horribly, but I was just so confused. I didn't know what to write back, or if I should and then… well, I read it every couple of days for a few weeks, and then one time Jess came in and found me. He told me that I should write back – you know he always liked you a whole lot better than Dean – and then, it took me a few more weeks to actually write the letter. I don't know how many times I re-wrote it. Then, Jess and I got in the car accident and… well, I kinda forgot about it.'

'Well, that part's understandable. And I bet Lorelai was freaked out about you being hurt, so makes sense things like letters from me slipped your mind.'

'Yeah, well. A couple weeks later, like I told you when I got here, I cut school to go visit Jess in New York and he brought it up, asked if I'd ever sent it to you, and that's when I got the letter back out, debating whether or not to send it. One night, right after Jess got back to town, I was looking at the two letters, yours and mine, and Dean walked. He got… really mad.' She broke off, and Tristan's fist clenched, and he was glad he wasn't anywhere near Dean at that moment.

'What did he do?' Rory looked up at the tone in his voice, and quickly put her hand over his closed fist.

'Nothing like that, he just yelled. A lot. During the yelling, Jess came in through the kitchen and then he was yelling, and it looked like they were going to start punching, so I started yelling. I told Dean he couldn't tell me who I could be friends with or talk to, and he said if I didn't care what he thought we shouldn't be together, so we aren't together.' She shrugged, trying to down play the whole event, but Tristan wasn't buying it. He wrapped his arm around her, and pulled her in close to his side.

'Rory, it's all right to be upset about it. He was your first boyfriend, and now it's over. Plus it sounds like he was acting like a dick. Something I'm sure came a shock to you. Maybe not to _me_, but to you, definitely. I'm just glad Jess was there.'

'Me too. Mum was so mad when she got home, Jess and I had to practically restrain her to keep her from going after Dean. As it was, by the next morning she had practically the entire town shunning him, and his family. It was actually kinda funny seeing Luke go after Dean the following day, although I felt bad about how his parents and sister were being treated, so I made mum call off the hounds.'

'You Gilmore Girls are definitely unique.' Rory smiled, and they sat in silence for a minute. 'Rory, were you serious about dinner?'

'Yes.' She looked away, but he caught her chin and brought her back to look at him. He grinned at her, and after a moment she smiled back.

'Then yes, I would love to go to dinner with you.' He laughed at the expression on her face. He couldn't believe she was actually shocked. He pressed a quick kiss to her temple, and moved to get up.

'Oh Tristan.'

'Yeah?'

'I know tonight's our first date, but would you mind…'

Lucas was walking the streets, heading to the rivercourt to think. He was thinking about the scene with Brooke, and his conversation with Rory, and didn't see Nathan until he had almost walked into him.

'Sorry… oh.'

'Oh? That's all you have to say to me, big _brother_?' Nathan, still reeling from his conversation with Haley, smirked at Lucas. 'What, cat got your tongue? No big speeches of how sorry you are or anything?'

'No.' Lucas shrugged. 'Right now, apologising to you is pretty much bottom of my list. Besides, I'm not sorry about what I did. And anyway, shouldn't you be more concerned with talking to Haley?' Lucas watched Nathan's eyes darken and glance away. 'Nathan, what happened?'

'Nothing you need to be concerned with. It's between Haley and me, and Haley's a big girl, she can look after herself. She's certainly proved that.' Lucas sighed at the bitter tone in his voice.

'Look Nathan, I know that what she did sucked. _She_ knows that what she did sucks. But she came back, that's gotta count for something, right? If you love her, you have to forgive her, don't you? Is that worse then being without her?' Nathan looked at Lucas and raised an eyebrow.

'Are you trying to convince me? Or yourself? What'd you do this time Lucas?'

'Nothing you need to be concerned with.' He said, repeating Nathan's earlier words straight back to him.

'Yeah? Who was it this time? Brooke? Or Peyton?' He saw the telltale signs of Lucas looking away at the mention of the girls' names. 'Both? Again?'

'It's not like that, it's just a big… misunderstanding. Just… talk to Haley. And don't believe everything you see. Haley loves you.' With that, Lucas moved away and kept walking towards the rivercourt, leaving Nathan standing on the sidewalk, staring after him.

Haley was sitting on the top of the bench, looking away from the court, across the river. She flinched when someone placed a hand on her shoulder, and spun around to see Lucas standing behind her.

'Sorry.' He grinned down at her before moving to sit beside her. 'Didn't mean to scare you.'

'No I just… didn't hear you coming. What're you doing here? I figured you be back at the house begging for Peyton to talk to you. You are going to beg, right?' Lucas was silent for long enough to have Haley worried before he finally spoke.

'I'm gonna do whatever I have to.' Haley smiled, and rested her head on his shoulder, and they sat like that, watching the river. Lucas glanced over at his best friend, and smiled. 'Hales, I think you're gonna be ok too. You and Nathan. You'll both do whatever you have to as well. You're Nathan and Haley Scott.'

When Lucas and Haley walked through the door to Peyton's house, they were immediately ambushed by Rory, who took Lucas' hand, mumbled an apology to Haley for stealing him, then dragged him back through the house and out into the backyard.

'I did it.' She stated proudly, and looked up at him expectantly. He raised an eyebrow at her, confused.

'Ok… and _it_ is? Unless you mean sex, which I'm assuming you don't cause that would be weird.' It was her turn to raise an eyebrow at him and he quickly backtracked. 'I mean, not you having sex, you telling me about it. And seeming so proud about it.' She laughed and shook her head, hitting his shoulder.

'Ok, gutter mind. I was talking about asking Tristan on a date. I did it, and he said yes and now you have to ask Peyton and you guys have to come with us tonight because… oh my god!'

'What?'

'I asked Tristan out. Tristan DuGrey. Oh my god.'

'Woah, ok breathe, just breathe. It's ok. You're gonna be fine, you like Tristan, remember? And what were you saying about Peyton and I having to come with you tonight?'

'You have to… I already told Tristan you were, although he thinks it's cause you asked me, but you have to. Please!' She was tugging on the sleeve of his jumper and grinned.

'Alright, alright! We'll come to dinner with you… provided, that is, that Peyton agrees to come with me.' Rory rolled her eyes and sighed.

'You're an idiot, you are aware of that, right?'

'Thanks.'

'I just mean, you can be really clueless. Like with Peyton. Trust me, she'll say yes. Especially considering she and Brooke seem to have worked out their differences, judging by the laughing that hasn't stopped in about 20 minutes. So, you're gonna march upstairs, apologise to Brooke cause you just really should, and _then_ you're gonna ask Peyton out on a date.' She drew in a deep breath and Lucas let out a small laugh.

'Alright. Calm down. I'm going up, right now. Breathe.' He patted her shoulder, then moved towards the stairs.

'God, Brooke! I've missed this. I mean, this summer's been good, with everyone here and Rory and Tristan, and Jess – you have to meet them all – but I've missed talking to you. My B. Davis.' Brooke smiled and glanced over at Peyton, who was lying next to her on the bed.

'Me too, P. Sawyer. Me too. And I have met Jess, very briefly.'

'What do you…'

'Sorry to interrupt.' Two heads turned to look at the doorway, where Lucas stood, hands in pockets, trying to avoid eye contact with both girls. 'Can I… um… can I talk to you. Both?'

'You wanna talk to us?'

'Yeah… I mean… well, not at the same time. Brooke can I talk to you outside for a sec? I know you probably _really _don't want to but…' He watched as Brooke looked over at Peyton, who lowered her eyes to look at her bed and Brooke sighed before turning back to Lucas and nodding.

'You have two minutes, come on.' He stepped into the hallway, and Brooked followed, closing the door behind her. 'Alright, what?'

'Brooke… look, I know this isn't gonna mean much right now, but I'm sorry. When I said all that stuff before you left, I meant it, or at least, I was sure that I meant it. I thought I was over Peyton, and that I wanted to be with you. But…'

'But being here with Peyton, and with me gone you realised it wasn't what you want?' As upset as she was, she was happy to notice that at least he looked ashamed.

'Yeah…' it was so soft she wasn't sure he'd actually spoken. 'I didn't think it would happen, I never would've said that to you if I thought I still lov… liked Peyton, and hopefully one day you'll believe me, and maybe forgive me.' She sighed again, and looked away from him.

'You love her?' He closed his eyes, he couldn't believe he'd let that slip.

'Brooke…'

'No, it's ok. I mean, it's not ok, but I get it. At least I know you're not just screwing with both of us, picking whoever's convenient at the time. I do believe you Lucas, and I think one day I'll forgive you. Now, you're gonna go and talk to Peyton, ask her out and make her happy.'

'Wait, how'd you know I was gonna ask her out?'

'Cause if you weren't, I'd kick your ass. And if you hurt her, in any way, I will kick you ass.' He'd have laughed if she wasn't glaring at him.

'I won't, I promise. And I don't doubt that you'd kick my ass. Or enlist Nathan to do it for you, which he definitely would, especially at the moment.' He trailed off and shook his head. 'Anyway… I'll let you go now, I think my two minutes are up.' She nodded and moved away, and as he laid his hand on the handle of Peyton's door he spoke. 'Brooke, thank you.'

'It's not for you, Lucas, it's for Peyton.'

'I know. Thank you.' He opened the door and stepped inside quietly, gently closing the door behind him. Peyton didn't look over at him, and he bit back a sigh, knowing how upset she must be at him. 'Hey.' Peyton finally looked up at him, and the pain in her eyes broke his heart.

'Hey' he wasn't sure if she actually spoke, or if her lips had just mouthed the word. Lucas moved towards the bed, then stopped short and caught her eye.

'Do you mind if I…?' He gestured to the bed, and she nodded, moving across to make space for him. 'Peyt… God, I don't know what to say.'

'You really don't have to say anything Luke. It doesn't matter, it's not like that kiss meant anything.' He reached over and put his hand on her cheek, and she looked back at him.

'Peyton, that's not true. You _know_ that's not true. That kiss meant everything, _you_ mean everything.'

'Lucas…'

'No, just hear me out, please?' He waited for what seemed like hours before she nodded and he smiled briefly. 'Ok… I don't really know what to say, how to explain what I did. I'm not really sure that I can explain it, in a way that doesn't sound like I'm making excuses. I can honestly say though that the last few weeks have been amazing, because I was with you, and whenever you were around I forgot about Brooke and what I said to her. I know that makes me sound like the world's biggest jackass, but it's true. When I said all that to Brooke, I meant it, or at least, I was sure I did, and then she left and you were there and I couldn't really remember what I'd said to her, or why I'd said it. You were all that mattered.'

'Lucas…'

'Wait… just wait. I made a lot of mistakes this last year, and all of them hurt you, which is one thing I never wanted to do. I realised something recently though, about why I did all those things. It's cause you're the one person who can cause me to act like a total idiot, because being around you, my brain shuts down and I stop thinking rationally, for good or bad. I also realised that you're the only girl who can make my heart stop, and that I don't care that it does. In fact, I love that it does. Cause I love you. I'm pretty sure I've loved you since the day you almost hit me with your car, as crazy as that sounds. And no matter what I did, who I tried to replace you with, you were always in my mind, and my heart.' He finished, and drew in a deep breath as Peyton studied him.

They sat in silence, watching each other as the minutes passed. It was Lucas who finally broke the silence, finally being unable to bear it any longer. 'Peyton, you don't have to say anything right now, I know you need time to process, but… will you go to dinner with me tonight?' She looked up at him now, a slight smile on her lips.

'Lucas Scott, did you just ask me out on an official date?' He smiled sheepishly, and nodded.

'I guess I did. So?'

'Yes.' They smiled at each other, before Lucas remembered Rory's request from earlier.

'That's great. Just one thing… we're double dating with Rory and Tristan and I'd love it to just be the two of us but… I promised Rory and it's a long story. Is that ok?' She laughed at his rambling, and shook her head slightly.

'It's fine Luke. Actually, double dating seems like a nice, normal teenage thing to do for first dates, so why not? And I'm guessing Rory managed to get you to promise by begging and turning on the puppy dog eyes, right?' He nodded, and she smirked. 'Well, she knows how to get what she wants, doesn't she?'

'Yeah, she certainly does. Although… can you imagine her asking Tristan out? I think I'd pay money to see that. She was hyperventilating when she was telling me, and it hit her that she had a date with him. Actually, if I hadn't been worried she was gonna pass out from lack of oxygen, I'd have laughed, the expression on her face was priceless.'

'I'm sure it would've been, just don't let her hear you saying that or she'll kill you.' Lucas laughed, but nodded his head, acknowledging the truth in that statement. He stood up, and looked down at her.

'Alright, I'm gonna go check on Haley, but I'll see you tonight.' He paused, bit his lip slightly, then grinned at her. 'Would you consider it… rude of me if I kissed you?' She shook her head, and laughed at him. He leant down and kissed her gently, and quickly, before pulling away and moving towards the door.

'You're such a dork, you know that right?' Peyton asked from her bed, and he shot her a grin over his shoulder as he paused in the doorway.

'Yeah, but I'm your dork, _right_?'

'Yeah, seems so.' He smiled and turned to leave, but stopped once again.

'Hey Peyt?'

'Hmm?'

'Thanks for saying yes.' She smiled to herself, as he moved around the corner, out of her sight.

At 7:05 that night, Tristan and Lucas stepped through the front door to Peyton's house, ready to pick up the girls. They'd been banished that afternoon by the girls, so that they could get ready. Well, to be fair, Rory had kicked them out and Haley had agreed. Peyton wasn't hugely fussed, but she went along with them. She was just happy Lucas had asked her out, and that Brooke didn't hate her.

She'd caught Brooke before she left, had double and triple checked that she was alright with her going out with Lucas. Brooke had shared her sentiments that it was kinda cute they were going on an official date, and a double date too.

So now, Rory and Peyton were in Peyton's bedroom with Haley, putting the finishing touches on their outfits, which Rory had picked with the help of her mother over the phone, which had made Haley and Peyton laugh, then watch bewildered as two perfect outfits were created by a woman who was in a completely different state to the clothes she was picking. Peyton was wearing a halter-neck dress, that looked black but when it caught the light had hints of emerald to it, and it fell to just above her knees, accompanied with simple black heels, subtle make up except for her eyes, which were done in the same shade of green as her dress.

Rory was dressed in a deep purple dress, falling to her knees, thin straps and a simple neckline. Peyton had leant Rory a necklace with a small dove pendant, and they'd curled her hair slightly. Her make up was similar to Peyton's, subtle for the most part, but with blue and purple for her eyes, which Peyton and Haley insisted not only matched her dress, but highlighted her eyes, which they assured her was a good thing.

'Alright girlies, I'm pretty sure you're ready to go. You both look gorgeous, so, no Rory, you can't change, and Peyton, I never thought I'd see the day Peyton Sawyer was worried about looking perfect for, not just any boy, but Lucas Scott. That boy's been in love with you since like, 8th grade, trust me. So get your butts downstairs before I have to get up and force you.' Haley smiled at them as she sat in Peyton's chair, checking her emails. The two girls glared at her, and Rory stuck her tongue out, but they picked up their bags, and made their way towards the door. Peyton stopped in the doorway and turned to look at her friend.

'Hey, aren't you gonna come see us off?' she knew what was wrong, Haley had told her and Rory about her run in with Nathan, and Peyton knew she was hoping to find an email from him, or even a text, something to let her know that what Lucas said was true. That they could get through anything. She was just glad that at least her best friend's love life seemed to be on track, finally. And she figured if Peyton and Lucas could pull their act together, so could she and Nathan. She hoped.

'Sure, someone's gotta get photos for Rory's mum, right?' She smiled at her friend, and picked up the small silver camera Peyton had left sitting on her desk.

'Oh come on, there does _not_ need to be photographic evidence of tonight. I can just, get Tristan on the phone to recount the evening if she doesn't believe me.' Rory complained from the hallway, having heard Haley.

'Uh, wouldn't she just think you'd bribed him or something?'

'Oh, and I couldn't have bribed him to stand there, dressed up, for a few photos.'

'Well, see, that's why Peyton's taking the camera with her. So there's proof of the whole night. And I want photos of you and Luke too. There's gotta be a record of the first time Lucas Scott went on a date with Peyton Sawyer. And I'm sure he'll want a picture of it for his Peyton box.' She saw Peyton grimace, and her hand flew to her mouth. 'Did you not know about the box?'

'Oh I know about it. Brooke told me before school ended, she found it. She also told me he kept to remind him of all the mistakes he made.'

'Hey! No getting upset. You know he didn't mean that, and with how messed up his head was a couple months ago, I'm sure he didn't even think about what he was saying. He would never think what you to have is a mistake. It's always been you for him Peyton, trust me on this. You've both already found too many ways to screw this thing up, I'm not gonna let either of you do it again, so get you butt downstairs.' Peyton smiled and nodded her thanks, before following Rory down the stairs to meet the boys.

'Wow…' both boys spoke at once as the girls came into view on the stairs, two sets of blue eyes staring, causing Rory to blush and Peyton to roll her eyes, while trying to avoid even a hint of a blush. What could she say, she loved it when Lucas looked at her like that. And the knowledge that he was gonna keep looking at her like that, exclusively at her, was something that made her wanna act like a total girl and squeal, or do a dance of excitement. As it was, she just smiled at, and kept smiling as he kissed her, and told her she looked beautiful, and thank her once again for agreeing to go out with him.

Meanwhile, Tristan and Rory were just standing in silence, facing each other. Tristan suddenly grinned, and Rory felt herself relax and she smiled.

'I can't believe I'm going on a date with Rory Gilmore, and that _she_ asked _me_ out. I was sure the night of the play that I'd never see you again, and that you'd never give more than a passing thought again, since I was finally out of your hair.'

'I know.' She paused, and looked down at her shoes. 'I'm glad though.' Tristan barely had time to smile at her before Haley came running down that stairs behind Rory, camera in hand and yelling at them to move so she could get pictures.

15 minutes later, after Rory and Peyton threatened to tag team to steal, and then break, the camera, Haley relented, agreeing she had enough before shots, and handed over the camera to Peyton. 'Have fun, Lucas try and avoid getting into any fights, you too Tristan.' At Rory's look, she elaborated. 'We don't seem to be able to get through any sort of event, major or minor, without Lucas here getting into some sort of brawl. And warning Tristan was just a precaution. Anyway, like I said, have fun. And don't be home too early, you'll disappoint me.'

Lucas smiled at his best friend's antics, but he walked over, gave her a quick hug, then moved back over to Peyton, as Tristan waited for Rory to collect her bag. Lucas opened the door, and moved to make room for the girls to exit.

'Shall we?'

A/N: hope you liked it, and it was worth the wait. Sorry for cutting it off there, I just really wanted to post, and I promise the date will hopefully be up soon… please review!


	8. Chapter 8: Date Night

Disclaimer: not mine, if it was well… many things would've been different, like not having to wait 4 seasons for Lucas and Peyton.

A/N: OH MY GOD! I am so incredibly sorry for the insane wait, I really hope you guys are still reading this. Life's just been… insane the last few months, uni and parents and doctors. Anyway, it's finally done, and I promise to get straight to work on the next chapter. I'm just having a little lack of motivation for this, but I promise it'll get finished. There's probably on two, maybe three more chapters. Any way, here's the chapter.

Chapter 8: Date Night

Haley watched the foursome get into Peyton's Comet, Lucas at the wheel, and head off, before she stepped back inside and shut the door. The house seemed oddly quiet with them gone, and since she had no clue where Jess was, or when he was planning on returning, she figured she'd curl up on the couch with some DVDs and ice cream.

She headed upstairs to change into her pyjamas, and get comfortable. Once she was done, she went back downstairs and flipped through Peyton's DVD collection, looking for something to watch. Anything romantic was out of the question, as were, she decided, comedies. She wasn't in a very funny mood. In the end, she settled on Halloween, followed by Nightmare on Elm Street, definitely not romantic, or funny, unless you counted the hilarious special effects that were so easily mocked.

She was just settling in with a small bowl of popcorn, Halloween starting on the screen, with young Michael taking the kitchen knife upstairs, when someone knocked on the door, and she had to bite back a squeal. She shook her head at herself, but at least there was no one there to witness it. She hit pause and rose to answer the door.

She wasn't prepared for who stood on the other side.

Tristan entered the restaurant with Rory and Peyton, while Lucas found a place to park. The three of them were seated and looking over the menus when Lucas finally joined them, looking slightly disgruntled. He took his seat next to Peyton, who took his hand and leant over.

'You ok?'

'Fine.' He replied curtly, and there was a pause as she waited for him to elaborate. 'Do you know how many people decided they needed to come out tonight? Apparently the entire town. Actually, I don't know if the town has enough people to account for the abnormally large number of cars out tonight. It's the middle of the week, why are so many people out?' Peyton tried to contain her laughter through his rant, and leant her cheek on his shoulder.

'Lucas, it's summer, lots of kids out with no school to worry about, and it's a warm night, no one wants to stay home on a night like this. I take it, though, that you had some trouble finding somewhere to park?' He nodded, and she smiled. 'Well, that's fine. Walking back to the car will be nice, won't it?' She glanced over to Tristan and Rory, who, like herself, were trying not to laugh.

'Yeah, it'll be nice. Oh, I wish we were in walking distance of the beach. I've always loved beaches at night.' Lucas was smiling now, as Rory drifted off in thought, and he looked on as Tristan watched her.

'Well, maybe we can drive over to the beach after dinner. It's not like we have a curfew.'

'I don't know, Hales might tell us off if we're home late.' Lucas joked, and the others all laughed.

'Yeah, I don't know if I'd wanna come home to an angry Haley James Scott.' Peyton added.

'Hmm… while that may be true, and I'm not sure having not seen our Haley angry as of yet, I think I'm willing to risk it.' Rory decided, and Tristan nodded.

'I have to agree. Despite having been on the receiving end of a Haley James scolding, I think I'd be willing to risk it for a walk on the beach.' Lucas started laughing, but quickly tried to disguise it as a cough when he caught Tristan's eye. Peyton smacked him lightly, and turned to Rory.

'You know, a walk on the beach sounds great. But for now, I'm kinda hungry.' On cue, Rory's stomach rumbled and she blushed as the other three turned to her.

'It would appear Rory agrees.' Tristan said, trying not to laugh, and he bit down on his lip to stop himself when Rory glared at him. 'So, I was thinking I'd have the chicken, what about you guys?'

Jess was wandering the streets of Tree Hill, no set direction. He'd wandered through the main shop strip, and seen Lucas trying to park Peyton's car. He could just make out the look on Lucas' face, he did not look impressed, and Jess laughed to himself. Evidently Lucas had left the others at the restaurant and had been given the task of parking, and it wasn't going well.

He was a block away and still laughing when a silver Volkswagen Beetle pulled up 20 metres in front of him. As he got closer, he saw a brunette step out of the driver's seat, and recognised Brooke as she turned to round her car. He stopped and watched, and waited until she saw him.

'Jess?' Brooke's voice carried across the noise of the streets, and he grinned. He wasn't entirely sure why, but he liked this girl, which was odd because she seemed to him to be the type of person he generally avoided. But not this one. Interesting.

'Brooke.' He nodded his head in hello, and smirked. 'And what brings Brooke Davis into town tonight?'

'Nothing much. Thought I'd see if anyone was around, maybe go to Tric later. And what about you, Jess Mariano? What are you doing wandering around our small, quiet town by yourself? No worried you might get jumped or something? I mean, we have been known to have some pretty strange people out on the loose here.'

'I think I can handle whatever your small town has. And I just wanted some air. Haley's the only one in the house tonight, and as cool as she is, I think she had a fight with that husband of hers… Nathan… earlier and I don't do well with upset women. In fact, I pretty much avoid them.'

'Really? So, this afternoon was what? Your caring twin?' Her eyebrow cocked as she regarded him, a small smirk of her own.

'Maybe I just felt like I hadn't been nice recently and it was just building up. Or maybe I just heard so much about Brooke Davis the last couple weeks and I was intrigued.'

'Really?' there was a teasing quality to her voice and he nodded once. 'They were all good things, I hope.' He shrugged and let out a quiet laugh at the shocked look on her face.

'Kidding. Don't worry, nothing but nice things. Although, I do have to say, my first impression of you this afternoon did _not_ exactly match up with what I've heard.'

'Is that right? How so?'

'Well, I must admit I was expecting a happy, bubble… airhead cheerleader. Instead… well, not so cheery or bubbly, or so airhead.' She smiled, albeit slightly confusedly.

'Alright, well I'm not sure if that was a compliment, but I'm just gonna pretend it was. So, are you set on being alone this evening, or would you like to get coffee with me?'

'Sure, lead the way.'

'Well, there's only one place to get good coffee in this place, and since you been staying with Peyton, Haley and Lucas, I'm sure you've already been.' She spoke as they started walking, and he recognised where they were heading.

'Ah, Karen's Café. Figured, all things considered, you might want to avoid this place a while?' She shook her head, still smiling.

'Nah. I mean, yes I really, and I mean _really_ don't like Lucas right now, but Karen has been like a mum to me, and I love her, so why should I avoid her and her café? Plus, Peyton's my best friend, and since I'm pretty sure she's gonna be with Lucas like 24/7 from now on, avoiding him would be kinda difficult. Besides, I'm not that petty.'

'Nathan, I… what are you…' Haley shook her head lightly, before stepping back slightly. 'Do you want to come in?'

'Sure. You here alone?' He asked, noting the silence in the house that according to Peyton was the home to at least 5 teenagers this summer.

'Yeah, Lucas, Peyton, Tristan and Rory are on a double date and Jess… he took off earlier, I'm not entirely sure where he went. He'll be back eventually.'

'Jess?' He asked, raising an eyebrow and Haley looked down.

'He's Rory's friend. The one from the beach.'

'So you've been getting to know him?' She looked up, not because of his words per se, but his tone.

'Nathan, we went over this. The others are being all couple-y, especially now since they're on their date, and we get left together.'

'I know, I know. We did, I'm sorry… look, I didn't come here to fight.' He paused, and looked around. 'I want things to be ok with us Haley, I do. I'm just not sure how to do that.'

'Maybe we can just… spend some time together, talk?'

'Yeah. So, having a movie night?'

'So Jess, how long are you and Rory here?' Brooke and Jess sat in a corner table of Karen's Café, talking and waiting for their coffee. Karen had practically squealed when she saw Brooke enter the shop, although she was wary, having heard from Haley briefly that afternoon what had happened, but Brooke had given her a big hug, order a coffee and taken a table.

'Until the end of summer I guess. So what, 3 and half weeks? Maybe less, she'll want to spend some time with Lorelai before school starts probably.'

'Lorelai?' Brooke asked as Karen set their drinks in front of them.

'Oh Lorelai, I had a nice call from the other day. Well, a strange call from her, but nice nonetheless.'

'Yeah, Lorelai will confuse you like that. She's Rory's mother.' He told Brooke, who was still looking confused, but that information cleared up some of her confusion.

'Well, having met Rory only once, I can only imagine what her mum could be like.'

'She's Rory, about 20 times intense.' Jess supplied. 'And it's even more when you're face to face, cause with a phone, you can hang up on her.'

Lucas pulled the comet into a spot in the nearly empty car park at the beach, and turned off the engine.

'See, I told you the beach would be awesome at night, let's go!' Rory jumped out of the car, having already removed her shoes, and took off running to the sand. Tristan laughed and got out to follow her, at a much slower rate.

Peyton and Lucas sat in silence, watching as Tristan caught up to Rory, and caught her, spinning her into him.

'They look good together, don't they?' Peyton mused as she and Lucas watched them.

'Yeah. It's nice to see him happy. I mean, it's been a while since I saw him, but every time we'd talk… his dad's not the best, and his friends sounded like idiots. It's just good to see him happy again.'

'What about when she goes home and he goes back to military school?'

'I think they're both avoiding thinking of that. Tristan's not gonna take it well though, he's not one for giving up something he loves once he has it. I spoke to him right after he left Connecticut, I couldn't get him to stop swearing and plotting his dad's murder, although having met Rory, it makes more sense.'

'Tristan.'

'Hmm?' They'd been walking in silence for a few minutes. She paused before answering, looked up at him, then looked out at the ocean.

'This is nice. I've never walked along a beach at night before. This whole night's been really nice, I'm glad you agreed to dinner…'

'Rory, I don't think either of us thought me saying no was a possibility. You do remember my embarrassingly third grade tactics to get your attention at Chilton, right? Now, what did you really want to say to me?'

'Um… ok, not to totally bring down the mood of tonight, because it really has been a great night but… I'm going back to Connecticut in a couple weeks, you're going back to military school here in North Carolina. What are we gonna do?' Tristan sighed and they stopped walking, and he turned to face her.

'I don't know Rory. I tried all last year to get my dad to transfer me back to Chilton, he yelled every time I brought it up. Now, I haven't spoken to him since school ended, so I have no idea how he'd react.'

'I don't wanna leave, Tristan.'

'I know the feeling. Look, we still have two weeks at least before you and Jess have to leave, and I can talk to Aunt Karen, see if she can do anything about my dad. It's gonna work out Rory. A year of, to use your word, torturing you, and year at Military School, now this, trust me, I'm not letting go without a fight.' He smirked and she laughed, throwing her arms around his neck. She looks up at him, contemplating something.

'Tristan?'

'Yeah?'

'I won't run away this time.' She almost giggles, _giggles_, at the look of confusion on his face for a minute before it clicks and he smiles.

'Is that so?' she nods, then just watches him and waits. He takes his time, but when he finally leans in and brushes his lips against hers gently, she wonders why she ever thought she hated this boy.

Nathan settled into one end of the couch Haley's blanket was draped over, and Haley nearly grinned. He hadn't chosen another couch, he'd chosen to sit on the couch she was obviously occupying. Progress.

'So, what're you watching?' he asked while she settled back onto the couch, tucking the blanket back around her.

'Um, Halloween. It's just started.'

'Halloween? The one with the dude Michael someone who wear a jumpsuit and mask and stabs teenagers with a kitchen knife? Haley, you hate scary movies, what're you doing watching one, alone at night?'

'I didn't really feel like anything funny or romantic, and I saw this so… it seemed like a good way to get my mind of things.'

'Right. And when you couldn't sleep tonight cause you kept seeing this guy coming at you with a knife?'

'I didn't think that far ahead. Beside, all the others will be back, and we've kinda been sleeping in here every night.'

'All of you?'

'yeah, we figured it was easier than making up rooming arrangements.'

'Alright. So, Halloween?' he nodded towards the TV and she smiled, reaching for the control to press play. 'Hales? I do miss you, all the time. And I still love you, but it's hard.' Haley looked at him, and smiled in a way she hadn't for months.

'I love you too Nathan, and I missed you every day. And I'm so sorry it didn't seem like it.'

'I know. Let's just watch the movie, ok?' The tone of his voice was a bit rough, but Haley saw the small smile on his lips, and tried to contain her own smile as she pressed play.

Jess and Brooke had left the café and were walking around the town talking.

'So, you're from New York right? How'd you end up in… Stars Hollow, right?'

'Yeah, Stars Hollow. No big story really, my mum grew up there, and then when she decided I was getting into too much trouble, or I was too much to handle she shipped me off to Luke's.' He shrugged, and Brooke kinked an eyebrow.

'That's it? You were too much to handle so she shipped you off to your uncle? Bet he loved that.'

'I like to think I've grown on him. He seemed happy enough when I asked to come back, although I had to promise not to do anything stupid again, and to graduate, or try to.'

'You're lucky to have someone like that, who's willing to take you in, and deal with everything when your parents give up on you. Must be nice.'

'You've got Karen; didn't you like live at her house recently? And from what I can tell, you seem to be a regular at Peyton's house, there are photos of you everywhere.'

'Yeah I guess that's true. Karen's great but…'

'She's Lucas' mum? Doesn't seem to matter to her. So quit complaining.' He said the last bit with an easy grin, so she smiled back.

'Sorry, complaining seems to be one of the qualities I inherited from my mother. That and using a credit card.' Jess laughed and rolled his eyes, and Brooke smiled as they headed back towards her car.

'So Peyt, we came all the way out here, are we just gonna sit in the car talking about my cousin, or are we gonna go for a walk?'

'Well, we did drive all the way out here, it'd be a shame to just sit here _talking_.' Lucas' eyebrow rose at the inflection in her voice.

'Peyton Elizabeth Sawyer, are you suggesting what I think you're suggesting?' he asked, trying hard not to laugh. She simply shrugged, and he smiled as he pulled her in to him, lowering his lips to hers. He'd missed this. They'd never had the chance to do this nearly as often as they should; they would have to fix that this time around. The fact that they could, that he could kiss her whenever he wanted had him smiling, and Peyton pulling away to look at him.

'What're you smiling at Scott?' He shrugged this time, and she laughed.

'Just that I can kiss you whenever I want, wherever I want.'

'Is that so?'

'Yeah.'

'Prove it.'

Rory and Tristan were making their way back along the beach towards the car, he had his arm tucked around her waist and she was smiling to herself. A part of her, a very small, _tiny_ part of her still half expected to wake up in her bed in Stars Hollow and realise this was all just a dream. The other part of her told her to shut up, she wasn't that creative to dream this whole thing.

'What're you smiling at Rory Gilmore?'

'Oh nothing… just wondering what could've possibly kept Lucas and Peyton from a walk on the beach. Must've been something serious, it is such a lovely night.' She felt his laughter before she heard it, and revelled in the feeling of him next to her.

'Well, they seem to think it's highly important, by the look of it.' She looked up to see him staring at something, and followed his gaze up to see Lucas and Peyton still kissing intently on the front seat of the comet.

'Well.'

'Seems kinda rude to interrupt them, doesn't it?' Tristan grinned.

'It does, doesn't it?'

'Guess we'll have to occupy ourselves for a while then, huh?'

'Guess we will. But what could we do?' She looked up at him, eyes wide as she tried to look innocent, and Tristan laughed.

'Innocent works better on you when it's real Rory. And I have a few ideas how to occupy ourselves. Come on.' He grabbed her hand, and led her a little way back down the beach. He pulled her down to sit on the sand, slipping his jacket off and laying it on the sand behind them, then pulled Rory down so she was lying next to him, his arm under her shoulders, bringing her in tight next to him.

'This is how we're occupying time?' Rory asked after a few minutes of lying next to him, incredulous.

'Uh…yeah, why?' He asked, turning slightly to face her, and her face mirrored the incredulity in her voice.

'Just…well you're Tristan DuGrey.'

'I know that, surprisingly.'

'Shut up. It's just, this isn't normal Tristan behaviour, at least not the Tristan I remember who used to have a different girl pressed up against a locker, usually _mine_, every week.'

'Mary, are you upset because I'm _not_ kissing you? My how times have changed.' Tristan teased, grinning at the blush that crept up her cheeks.

'That's not…' she was cut off as he pulled her towards him and kissed her. It was everything their first kiss had been, sweet and short, but more. More insistent, more passionate. And when he leant back in and kissed her again, there was nothing short or sweet about it. Here was the spark, the something about this boy that had led her across states to find him. How had she ever thought him insensitive? Wrong for her? She really was crazy, if she thought this boy was anything but perfect. She smiled at that thought, and felt him smile too against her lips in response.

Haley and Nathan had finished Halloween, and had moved on to Prom Night, the Brittany Snow version. The brunette girl on the screen was now alone in the suite, and Haley just new she was about to die. Sure enough, a minute later as she was fixing her makeup in the bathroom, the killer jumped out and Haley screamed.

'Haley, calm down. It's just a movie.' Haley put her head in her hands and shook her head, silently laughing at herself. She'd forgotten for a moment that he was there, she'd been so wrapped up in the movie.

'Sorry, I just…he came out of nowhere! I'll be quiet now.' She pulled her legs in closer to her body and curled into the armrest of the couch.

'Hales I didn't mean you had to shut up, I was just telling you to calm down, you know, like the guy's not gonna come after you or anything. I know how you get with scary movies.' He was smiling at her, she let herself relax a bit and smile back. She turned back to watch the screen, and they sat in silence for a few minutes. Until the killer was back on screen, this time watching the young girl's boyfriend. Then Haley screamed again, diving towards Nathan who had to bite back a laugh as he brought his arm around her, pulling her in next to him. 'It's alright Hales. You're alright.'

'So Brooke Davis, where are you planning on staying? The backseat of your car? Cause it looks full.' Jess asked as they stood by her car.

'Well… actually I _was_ planning on crashing at Peyton's but-'

'But what? I know you're still awkward about the whole Lucas thing but there's enough of us staying at her place you'll hardly notice.' He raised his eyebrow at her, then moved around the car and got in the passenger seat, and looked up at her through the window. 'You gonna get in?'

'Uh sure?'

'Alright, then get in. Since you're heading to the same place I am, I figure you can drive me. Save me walking.'

'So I guess I'm staying at Peyton's?' she asked, looking over at him as she pulled out of the spot.

'I guess you are.'

'Ok guys, we gave you time to grope each other, but there's only so long you can lay on the sand at night before it gets freezing. So break it up.'

Lucas and Peyton pulled apart and looked through the driver's window to see Tristan standing there smirking at them, Rory behind him smiling brightly. Peyton groaned and rolled her eyes before sliding back across the seat to her side. Lucas groaned once Peyton had moved away from him, then glared up at his cousin.

'You suck, you know that? Totally suck. Get in.'

Once the others were settled in the backseat, Lucas pulled out of the car park and headed back to Peyton's. He shook his head slightly and smiled when he caught himself thinking of it as heading home.

'What are you smiling at?' Peyton asked, and Lucas glanced over to see her watching him.

'Nothing.' She just looked at him. 'Just smiling.'

'You will tell me Lucas Scott. Or do I need to bring out the middle name?' Lucas looked over to see she wasn't joking and his eyes went wide.

'How do you know my middle name?' he demanded, and she laughed.

'Haley.'

'Haley… I'm gonna kill her. Seriously. She's dead.' He turned back to the road, and the others laughed as he sped up slightly, now hurrying back to the house.

'So are you going to tell me?'

'Not now Peyton, must kill Haley.'

'Wow, this middle name thing must be really bad. I've never seen Lucas threaten Haley. Me sure, plenty of times, but Hales?' Tristan mused from the back seat, trying to figure out if he knew Lucas' middle name.

'You don't know you're cousin's middle name?' Rory asked, incredulous, looking across at him, and he shrugged.

'Not like it was something I desperately needed to know. I guess it just never came up.'

'Alright, no more talking about my middle name, or I swear I'll pull over and leave you all here.' Lucas shot Peyton a look to let her know he meant her too, and she shut up, but was still smirking to herself.

Brooke and Jess were getting out of her car, Brooke pulling a suitcase out of the backseat, when Peyton's car pulled into the driveway and Lucas jumped out of the driver's seat, Peyton following soon after from the passenger's side.

'What the hell?' Brooked asked, and moved after them towards the house.

'Lucas come on, it's really not that big of a deal.' Peyton yelled, finally catching him outside the front door and grabbing his wrist.

'No she knew she wasn't allowed to tell anyone. I told her when we were six I'd kill her if she told anyone, and then she tells _you_? Seriously, the only person worse that she could've told would be Nathan, a year ago.'

'I don't understand why you're so upset, it's only a name.'

'It's just… you wouldn't understand Peyton _Elizabeth_ Sawyer. Now if you don't mind,' he said pulling her hand off his wrist, 'I have some business with Haley James.' He turned and practically ran into the house, the other five following him swiftly, Peyton right behind him, so when he came to an abrupt stop at the entrance to the living room she ran right into him.

'Lucas what…?'

'Shh… look.' She peeked around him and smiled. 'Nathan and Haley.'

'WHAT?' Screeched Brooke and she pushed her way forward to look at the couple.

'Brooke shut up!' Peyton whispered, pointing at the couple who had stirred slightly, then relaxed back against the couch.

'Sorry, but it's Naley! Look, they've made up! Oh my god, where's my camera? P. Sawyer you have to come help me find my camera, you all stay here and keep quiet, do NOT wake them up, I have to get photographic proof of this.' With that, Brooke grabbed Peyton's arm and dragged her back outside, leaving the others looking at the reunited couple curled up on the couch.

Lucas smiled, his anger at Haley temporarily forgotten as he watched his best friend sleeping next to her husband, and certain smile on his face he hadn't seen since before she left.


	9. Chapter 9: Clearing the Air

Disclaimer: I don't own One Tree Hill OR Gilmore Girls…. How sad

A/N: Oh My GOD! I am so BEYOND sorry for how incredibly long it has taken me to get this chapter written. My only excuse? Life has been incredibly insane these past few months, everything seemed to happen at once at the worst possible time. Anyway, this is the last chapter since I decided to stop dragging it out and I can't guarantee I'd get more chapters out any time soon, so I hope it is a suitable ending and that you guys (if anyone's still reading this) feel that it does the story justice. Without further ado, I give you the final chapter!

Chapter 9: Clearing the Air

When Brooke woke the next morning, she took a moment to figure out where exactly she was. She quickly recognised Peyton's living room, then when she rolled over, saw the people spread out around her, all still asleep. Jess was closest to her on her left, next to the wall. Rory was to her right, curled up in a ball, almost hidden under her blankets. Tristan was next to Rory, sprawled out on his back, and up near the couches were Lucas and Peyton, who despite having started the night in their own 'beds' had gravitated towards each, and Lucas' arms were now wrapped around Peyton, holding her close.

Brooke smiled at the sight. As angry as she wanted to be with them both, seeing her best friend happy like that made it really hard to hold onto her anger. She was still angry at Lucas, but she knew he loved Peyton, even if Peyton didn't. Brooke Davis loved love, and she knew how to spot it.

When she looked past Peyton and Lucas, she grinned at the other Scott brother still curled up on the couch with Haley. She'd laughed so hard when they'd first told everyone they were married, but the idea had grown on her quickly, so when Haley had left she'd been so upset. She'd been all set to be able to watch an epic romance, because even though they were married, they'd only been together for like 6 months. Seeing them on the couch like that, and the other two couples, through Rory and Tristan weren't curled up together like the others, renewed her faith in love.

She was so glad she'd come back to Tree Hill early, despite everything.

Haley started to wake slowly, creeping into consciousness. She stirred slightly, and her brow furrowed when she noticed the weight holding her down. She glanced down at the arm draped over her stomach, then back over her shoulder at Nathan's face and smiled. She hadn't planned on spending any time with Nathan this summer, especially considering their last few encounters. Here he was though, curled up behind her on the couch, after spending the night watching scary movies with her and comforting her. It was so easy to just forget the past few months and pretend everything was fine. She closed her eyes and snuggled back into him, content to lay there with him as long as she could.

She drifted off, and when she woke up again, Nathan was moving slightly behind her, and when she looked down, she could see that everyone else was either already up or waking. She turned slightly to look at Nathan.

'Hey.' She whispered softly, unsure what to say, or what would happen. She bit her lip when he only stared in response.

'Hey… uh,' he shifted, moved to sit up and she moved with him. 'I should probably, I should go.' He stood up, began to manoeuvre his way around the makeshift beds towards the front door.

'Nathan wait, you can't just-'

'What Hales? Leave? Sure I can. You showed me how, remember?' She gasped, tears pooling in her eyes.

'Nathan, I…' She shook her head to try and clear her tears and her thoughts, unsure what to say. She wasn't sure why he was suddenly acting like this again, after last night.

'Shit. Hales, look I'm sorry. I didn't mean… I just gotta go right now, ok? I'll… talk to you later, alright?' Before she could get a word out, he'd turned and made his way out the door, closing it behind him. She closed her eyes, trying to ignore the fact that her closest friends were standing in front of her. When she opened her eyes, Lucas was standing in front of her, and a quick glance behind him showed her that the others had left. Lucas pulled her wordlessly into a hug, one hand rubbing her back slowly, the other stroking her hair.

'Hales, you know he didn't mean it. You know him, he lashes out when he's scared or confused. It's a Scott trait.' She couldn't help the giggle that escaped, and when he pulled back she could see the smile on his face.

'I guess I should know that by know, huh? Put up with you all these years.' He laughed, and wiped the tears that had fallen from her face.

'Look, I know it doesn't really seem like it, considering Nathan's outburst, but he's coming around Hales. You know he still loves you, you don't need me to tell you that, but you will be together again. Don't give up on that.' She smiled up at him.

'You sound so sure of that Lucas. How can you be so sure.'

'I hoped for Peyton for years, and when I almost gave up on her look what happened. I nearly lost her and hurt a lot of people in the process. You… didn't give up, but you kinda forgot for a while how important Nathan was, but you've got your chance to fix it, and it's working. I got my chance and it was exactly easy, right? I managed to hurt both Brooke and Peyton and make an ass of myself. It's just… the process, I guess. These things don't come easy.' She sighed, moving back in to hug him again.

'No, they really don't.' She leant her head back slightly. 'Or maybe, it's just the Scott men who make these things difficult. I think I'm sensing a pattern.'

'Really, that's how you wanna play this? Oh, and since you're smiling again, I think this is an appropriate time to ask… why the HELL you told Peyton my middle name? Honestly Hales, that was supposed to go to the grave!'

'Uh, Luke, you do remember that Peyton middle named you at like, the beginning of the summer right. Rory and Tristan heard. She was yelling it pretty loudly.'

'She… oh, yeah, the car keys. I forgot about that. And forgot to ask her at the time how she knew that. Hang on, Rory and Tristan were acting like they didn't know my middle name last night…'

'Well, you know Tristan, he tends to forget things easily, and Rory's a pretty big distraction. As for Rory…'

'Well, following your line of thought, I'm pretty sure Tristan was pretty distracting himself last night.' They both smirked, and he sighed.

'That still doesn't explain why you told her my middle name in the first place, or get you off the hook. Don't think I'll forget this, Haley James Scott.' She smiled. 'What?'

'Haley James Scott. It's a nice reminder that he's still my husband. It was weird, being Haley James again on tour. It didn't feel right for some reason, and I understand why now. I screwed up so bad Luke.'

'Hey, like I said, he'll come around. He already is. This morning was just… I'm sure he freaked cause he thinks he needs to be angry at you, but he loves you and he's happy spending time with you. He's confused. Don't worry.'

Nathan was silently swearing at himself as he made his way through the quiet streets of Tree Hill. He was standing outside Karen's Café, staring through the windows, when someone stepped up beside him.

'I'm gonna make an educated guess, and go with Nathan Scott, right?' He turned his head, eyes wide.

'Um… do I know you? How the hell do you know who I am?'

'My daughter has an excellent way with words, her descriptions are usually spot on.' His eyebrow rose, still confused over who this woman was and how she knew who he was. 'Well, and she sent me photos. I'm pretty good with faces.'

'Uh, that still doesn't explain who you are… or why your daughter has photos of me.'

'Lorelai Gilmore.'

'Huh?'

'Lorelai Gilmore is my name. It's also my daughter's name. Though she's most commonly known as-'

'Rory. Rory Gilmore. Right. I should've known.'

'Well, in your defence from what I hear, you haven't exactly spent a lot of time with my daughter. Actually, from what I got out of her and Jess, surprisingly, she hasn't spent a lot of time with anyone other than Tristan DuGrey.'

'Yeah… Well, probably, but I haven't spent a lot of time with any of them really.'

'Mmm, so my daughter says. Your wife Haley, right?'

'Uh, yeah.'

'Alright, I've been driving all night and I'm starving and really, really need some fresh coffee, so you're gonna come have breakfast with me.' She grabbed his arm and began to drag him into the café, ignoring his protests.

'Uh, look Ms Gilmore…'

'Oh for the love of God, if you know what's good for you don't ever call me Ms Gilmore again. Lorelai. Call me Lorelai.'

'Sure… Lorelai, what are you doing?' She pushed him into a chair at a table in the corner, and sat opposite him, picking up a menu.

'Well currently I'm deciding what to have for breakfast.' She answered without looking up at him.

'Well yeah, but I meant-'

'You meant why are you here with me? Well, one so you can eat because you don't look like you've been awake for very long or even thought about breakfast. And two, because I need to talk to you.'

'Talk to me? About what?' He asked, confused as, even as she thrust a menu into his hands.

'Pick what you want, then we'll talk. And trust me, we have things to talk about.'

Peyton exited her bathroom to find Rory, Brooke and Haley spread out in her room, talking softly.

'What's with the girl hangout in my room all of a sudden?' She asked, moving into her closet to grab her hoodie. Haley shrugged, and looked at Brooke, who also shrugged.

'It seemed like a good idea?' She asked, trying to look innocent.

'It seemed like a good idea? Who're you trying to fool, Davis. You're looking for dirt, aren't you? Well, it went well. That's all you're getting out of me.'

'Really? It went well? That's all you're saying. Come on, Rory's already told us her end of the story, now we need yours to get the full picture.' Brooke whined from the bed, and jumped up quickly to block the door when Peyton started towards it. 'Nuh uh, P. Sawyer, you are _not_ leaving this room until you spill, so spill.'

'Alright Nathan, I'm just gonna lay it out for you alright? Oh, and when I speak, you listen, I don't like to be interrupted.' Lorelai smiled at the confused boy sitting across the table, and leaned forward on her elbows. 'So, Rory's given me a pretty detailed account of the story behind you and Haley, and when I say detailed I mean detailed, that kid thinks _tell__me__about__your__day_ requires a three hundred page response. Anyway.' She paused, and considered him over the table as Karen brought over the pot of coffee to refill their cups.

'Look kid, the people we love, they're gonna make mistakes. It's part of life. Sometimes the mistakes are small, sometimes they're really big. But trust me, as someone who had a kid at 16, I've seen a lot of mistakes, made most of them myself actually. The biggest mistake I made? I pushed Rory's dad away when we were kids, I didn't think he was ready, and then after I pushed him to be a kid he, well, took that to the extreme. It took him a long time to grow up, but by the time he was ready to, when we could have been together, been the family Rory wanted, I got scared and I pushed him away cause all I could think about was all the other stuff, and then he met someone who didn't push him away and I missed out on what could have been the best thing in my life. Maybe in the end, it would have crashed and burned anyway, I don't know. But rather that then never have it.'

'So what's your point?' Nathan cut it, leaning back from her as their food arrived.

'My point, oh young one who interrupted me, is that Haley made a mistake, but she's back, and she came back pretty quickly for someone your age. Oh, and you can never have too many people who love you in your life. Some of them may not always show it, or show it in the right ways, but, from what my daughter tells me, Haley loves you and is definitely someone you want in your life. So don't screw it up. Don't be the one sitting here in twenty years feeling stupid cause you held on to the past too long.' She stared at him until he squirmed and looked down at his plate, picking up his fork and playing with his food. Lorelai smiled to herself before getting started on her own meal.

Karen looked up as the door to café swung open, and seven teenagers walked in. Lucas was in front with Peyton and Haley, followed by Tristan and Rory, and then Brooke and Jess. She watched as they made their way to a table, before Rory spotted her mother and squealed loudly, causing Lorelai to look around and smile.

'Hey Gilmore!' Rory ran over, leaning down to hug Lorelai in her chair.

'Mum, what are you doing here? When did you get here? How long are you staying? Am I coming home with you?'

'Woah, calm down Rory. I got in about an hour ago, I'm not staying long, I need to get back to the inn, you are staying here and coming back with Jess, he got you here he can get you home, preferably with time for us to hang out before the evil school begins again. And lastly,' she paused to take a deep breath, 'I came down to meet the people you've been telling me about, get to know them a bit, you know.' She smiled down at Rory, who glanced at Nathan still sitting at the table behind her, and then back up at Lorelai.

'Mum, have you been meddling again?'

'Me? Meddle? Never!' She responded, eyes wide in shock.

'Give it up mum.' Rory teased.

'Oh alright, I may have meddled. Speaking of which, Nathan off you go. I believe you need to talk to Haley.' At that, everyone turned to look at first Nathan, then Haley, who was looking beyond confused. Nathan stood slowly, throwing one more look at Lorelai, before nodding and heading to Haley.

'Hales, can we talk?' She nodded eagerly.

'Of course, lets go upstairs.' She led out the back, and up to the roof, leaving the rest of the group standing around.

'Alright guys, I'm guessing you came here to be fed, so grab a table, I'll be over in a minute.' Karen broke the silence, stirring the kids into movement, as Lorelai sat back at her table. Karen made her way over to her, and smiled down as she poured more coffee into Lorelai's cup.

'Bless you.'

'I think you may a slight coffee problem, Lorelai. Whatever you said to Nathan, thank you. It looks like you really got through to him, something we've all been trying to do for months.'

'Well, sometimes an outsider's view really helps.' The two women shared a smile, before both looking over to their kids, talking happily with their friends. 'She's going to be devastated when she has to leave Tristan' Lorelai commented, looking back at Karen, surprised to find her smiling at her daughter.

'Oh, I don't know about that. She might be pleasantly surprised.' Lorelai considered her words for a minute, and grinned.

'Do I take your words to mean I'm not the only one who has meddled?' She asked, looking back at the kids.

'Well, I wouldn't call it meddling, per se, more like giving my brother-in-law a piece of my mind and some very frank advice.' She paused, considered, then laughed, 'and one or two well phrased threats, which ended in his excellent decision to remove Tristan from military school and re-enrol him at Chilton for his senior year.'

'Look Hales, I just… can I just get this all out, not interruptions and then we'll discuss?' Nathan looked over at his wife, who was sitting on the bench, watching him pace. She nodded in response.

'Ok so, when you left I was like seriously hurt. Well, first I was mostly pissed, but then I was just hurt. After all the crap last year, you were suddenly there, amazing and helping me and loving me, and so when you left I really wanted to hate you for taking away the only good thing I had. When you came back at the start of summer, I was still holding onto all the hurt and hate, and I just refused to let it go and look at the fact that yeah you left, but you came back. The thing is, we're still really young, as everyone pointed out when we got married in the first place. But I know that I married you for the right reasons, and those reasons, they all still exist. So you made a mistake, god knows I've made heaps of my own, and you always forgive me. So why shouldn't I forgive you? Cause I love you, and at the end of the day, I still _really_ want to be married to you. It was stupid of me to ever think otherwise.' He stopped, and Haley watched him, wondering if he was done. 'So I guess, this is me apologising, and asking if we can just stop this and just… be married again?' He finally looked directly at her, and she nodded slowly, before grinning and leaping up, jumping on him.

'I love you too Nathan, I always did. Always and forever, I promise you.' She leaned in a kissed him, feeling a bit stupid for thinking that it felt like coming home. She never wanted to have to go so long without kissing her husband again.

A week later found the group of eight at the river court, Nathan and Tristan playing Lucas and Jess as the girls cheered occasionally from the stands. Peyton's comet was parked beneath a tree, and Jess' car was behind it, packed for the trip home.

'So Tristan's coming home, huh?' Peyton asked, looking over at the guys. Karen had given them the news last night, after receiving the confirmation from Tristan's dad.

'Yeah, I still can't believe Karen did that. I mean, I don't really know him and he scares me.' Rory said, also watching the guys play. Jess wasn't really a basketball kind of guy, so Nathan and Tristan were winning easily.

'Of course she did, she's Karen. It's in her nature.' Haley put in, looking over at Rory. 'She picks her battles well, and she nearly always wins.'

'Dude, no offence, but you really suck at this game,' Lucas told Jess as they moved back to the centre of the court.

'Shut up Scott, it's so not my fault we're losing.' Jess shot back, scowling.

'Oh yeah, and who's fault is it?'

'Yours, Scott. You can't keep your eyes off Sawyer long enough to play.' At that, both Nathan and Tristan started laughing, until Jess turned to them. 'You guys are only marginally better, so I don't know what you guys are laughing at.'

'Alright boys, it's almost time for the Connecticut group to head off, so stop… well, whatever it is that you're doing since you're no longer playing any form of basketball. Get over here.' Brooke called the guys over to where the girls were now standing.

'Alright, so now what?' Tristan asked once they were standing next to the girls, and Brooke rolled her eyes.

'Boys are _so_ dumb,' she whispered to Peyton, who smiled and nodded. 'We, my fine friends, are playing one last game for the summer, boys versus girls, before these three hit the road back to stinky old Connecticut. So come on, let's get moving people! Time is wasting.' Brooke ushered them all back onto the court, and the girls and boys got themselves into position to start the game.

'This is humiliating,' Jess muttered, 'next summer you guys can come to Connecticut and there'll be _no_ basketball whatsoever.'

'Alright, we'll see you next summer then. But for now, shut your mouth and watch the ball,' Peyton responded before moving towards Lucas and whispering in his ear, smirking as he handed over the ball to her. The guys groaned, and the girls cheered as Lucas looked sheepish until Peyton winked at him over her shoulder.

'Sorry guys, Peyton trumps basketball any day.' The guys rolled their eyes while the girls smiled, and Peyton passed the ball to Haley before making her way back to Lucas.

'Nice save, Scott. Very nice.' Lucas wrapped his arms around her, and leaned in to kiss her.

'I was wrong at the start of summer.'

'Were you? What about?'

'This summer was interesting. But not cause of Tristan.' He leaned down to kiss her, ignoring their friends as they continued to play around them.


End file.
